Aligning Customer With Strategy

By Author: John Beth
Total Articles: 17
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Michael Porter (1985) a long time Professor at Harvard University and leading authority on business strategy developed a theoretical framework that he coined the ‘generic strategies’. One of the key elements of his theoretical principle rested on the notion of product differentiation as a means of gaining advantage over competitors. Since its development, his original theory has evolved over the years within specific business disciplines to be tailored for distinctive applications. Particularly applicable to marketing training, Porter’s (1985) theory provides a platform for building a business strategy that works to achieve long-term profitability. Customer focused marketing exemplifies this effort and goes beyond Porter’s (1985) theory to include the unique notion of customer centric organisational development.
A truly customer centric company focuses on understanding the customer beyond basic demographics or segmentation. In this type of organisation, selling products and services becomes superfluous because the total value offering is specifically tailored to suit the customer. The offering is structured ...
... around understanding the customer intimately through extensive research. Using insights gained through this exacting consumer research, strategic and operational decision making can be put in place that are based on consumer preferences. This delivers value in the truest sense. A significant aspect of this particular marketing training rests on the idea of departmental integration. This integration seeks to devise a holistic marketing strategy that spans across an organisation’s structural departments in order to create true and lasting value. Whether it is the accounting, sales or production department the combined effort is customer focused. This type of value not only generates organic growth, but also leads to greater customer satisfaction.
Customer focused marketing explores the utilization of customer insights in order to gain market share and to maximise profits through organic growth. Accomplished through the design, execution and evaluation of unique customer focused strategies that seek to differentiate the offering across various touch points. The emphasis is placed on creating integrated solutions, rather than in a silo, that are an innovative means of creating value. This results driven approach is fundamentally different from other more traditional marketing training efforts, in that historically marketing has been seen as an independent entity within organisations.
This fresh approach and re-organised business model puts marketing at the heart of corporate strategy and is reflected within its organisational structure. Restructuring the organisation in this way intrinsically puts the customer in the forefront of all organisational efforts and creates the most value for the consumer.

Jonathan Beth has served as a consultant in corporate training, business education and marketing in london programs.