How to clobber your competition using these three P's

Considering these tips can help you beat the competition, in spite of ever-changing circumstances that impact the digital climate. 

The world is radically changing. Rules are being rewritten every day as technologies evolve and mobile everything continues to revolutionize the way we research, communicate, and purchase products and services.

How will the key elements to building business success – people, product, and process – be impacted  as things progress? What should business leaders be doing now to clobber the competition and assure continued success for years to come?

1. People

It goes without saying that your people are the heart of your company. As an entrepreneur, hiring right early on is particularly important. But as companies grow and the layers of management build, it’s easy to lose touch.

Over the holiday, I had the opportunity to do some binge watching of Undercover Boss. If you haven’t seen the series, it follows chief executive officers (CEOs) as they go undercover to see how their companies’ various functions operate.

Source: Hulu

In nearly every episode, the CEO walks away with a greater appreciation for their employees’ contributions and gains invaluable insights on how things can be done better and or more efficiently.

The series reminded me about the importance of:

• Staying connected.
• Having the right people in the right roles.
• Creating a positive environment.
• Listening with an open mind.

Furthermore, it is important to spend time with all critical constituencies, including customers and even your competitors. As a leader, you should regularly shop the competition, experience your brand from the consumer’s perspective, and visit your top customers regularly. This is time well spent, and I promise you it will be invaluable in maintaining your leadership position.

2. Product

The traditional four Ps of the marketing mix remain essential:

• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place

Having said that, place is incredibly important as the world’s mobile-first attitude continues to grow. As interactions increasingly become more mobile and multichannel while happening in real-time, marketers need to invest heavily in mastering the delivery of their message to the right customer, in the right channel, at the right time.

This will require marketers to evolve and rethink their data strategy and fine-tune the concept of place by incorporating movement and location signals from mobile devices into the mix. To do this effectively, significant investments must be made around identity management, which allows you to tie an individual user and their various interactions across multiple digital channels. Data from this will be essential, as the gap between the physical and digital world narrows and real-time interactions between the consumer and brands becomes the new standard.

Done well, brands have the opportunity to create exceptional experiences – or what I refer to as “magic moments” –  which ultimately allow them to further differentiate their brand, strengthen loyalty, and drive lifetime value.

3. Process

The final element in clobbering the competition is taking a hard look at the company’s operations and marketing process. Opportunity to build efficiencies and identify chances to further scale your success is there for the taking. Proliferation of key technologies – such as real-time predictive analytics, machine learning, orchestration tools, and programmatic “everything” marketing automation – has made this a reality.

As a leader, look to invest heavily in these technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing efforts and watch your ROI grow. Aside from the obvious benefits to the bottom line, mastering the process step will also enable you to build exceptional experiences for your customers.

Source: Flickr

By delivering these magic moments that surprise and delight customers, you’ll be well on your way to building an army of advocates to help you dominate your market in no time.

In conclusion

To reach success on all three fronts may not be easy. It will require building a culture that is accepting to change and which embraces innovation, and that takes us back to the first and most important component – PEOPLE.

Good luck!