The Studio Source.com

On Monday I wrote a post about the hazards of comparing yourself to others and how to define your own success. I had a clever little idea to link it to today’s post, where I talked about looking to your competition to see how they do their marketing, so you can make yours great. An elegant paradox, no?

There’s a wrinkle.

You can learn some valuable stuff from your competition. I’m talking marketing strategies, here, not ripping off someone else’s style or trolling for new designs. Don’t do that. The karma police will find you, and people will think you’re a jerk. And don’t succumb to professional jealousy. Chances are the people you admire have been at it longer than you.

Take a good look at your closest competitor. Figure out what they’re doing right, and where there’s room for improvement. Your purpose is to build solid marketing strategies based on two things: the lessons already learned by seasoned veterans, and your own unique style.

I’ll go right to the punch line: if you define yourself by what other people have, you’ll be miserable.

The big problem with that way of thinking may not be so obvious: you don’t really know what other people have. You’re relying on your own assumptions, which can be seriously flawed. Someone who has a fat paycheque (or nice car, or gorgeous partner, et cetera) isn’t necessarily happy. Or healthy. So forget about it.

According to Wikipedia, the American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Okay. That sounds like… fun.

Here’s my take: you have something you want to sell, and you need to reach your buyers. There’s a lot of noise out there. You want to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

In practice, what good marketing does is create an experience. It ignites the imagination.