Marketing is about making true distinction, including psychological and emotional distinctions, and branding is one of such methods.

-          Philip Kotler

- Vietnamese enterprises need brand building -

Due to the development of quality management technology, nowadays products worldwide are of relatively high quality; so how will customers choose products for themselves? Should they consider brand name, or most cost-saving ones? Therefore, what we need to do now is comprehensive brand management.

Branding is a kind of commitment, a state that my brand is distinctive from others to a certain extent, better than theirs, even when competitors’ products are the same as yours. Marketing is the art of distinction, it’s about making true distinction, including psychological and emotional distinctions, and branding is one of such methods.

Today, many US businesses have arrived in Vietnam; fashion industry for example, with many fashion brands have been entering Vietnam market. In fact, what they sell are made in Vietnam, yet the brand belongs to someone else.

Currently in Vietnam there are several value-market local-brands competing with global brands, which is of-course not bad, but the price war will not last too long. Everyone understands that the world is fair, we are looking for low cost manufacturing countries, such as Laos, Cambodia, and even Africa. Products manufactured in Africa are definitely cheaper than those in Vietnam. Therefore, branding is still what we need to do at the end of the day.

- Market Segmentation -

A business strategy is to define its market position, in the other words, where are you in the market? Is your business the best one? What is your strategy? If your business ranks 2^nd or 3^rd position in the market, what do you need to do? If your business is targeting a particular market, what should you do?

If your business stands 1^st place, the first thing you should do is to draw more customers’ attention to your company; also be mindful about your competitors, as they might have products or services that are both better and more updated than yours. You may need to learn from them, you may say leaders need to innovate, but sometimes innovations bring bundles of waste; It’s best for leaders to pay attention to the market.

For 2^nd-ranked businesses, such as PepsiCo, either you co-exist with top businesses, or go ahead and challenge them. If you want to challenge the 1^st position, front-attack should not be your strategy, as they have more “weapons” and “armies; do flank attack by aiming at their weaknesses from the most invisible sides; that may bring your business to the 1^st position.

In many cases, 3^rd-ranked businesses can replace 2^nd- or 1^st- ones through proactive innovation, Chrysler in particular. Chrysler created a SUV model. 3^rd-ranked businesses are usually highly innovative ones.

If your business is relatively small, at least be an expert or a market participant. For example, I want to product microscopes, but only for universities; I am a market expert, I have very good connections with universities, I know their budget clearly, I will provide them with a variety of equipment. You either create best products, or provide best services to the market.

- 8 Winning strategies -

Regarding market positioning, there are 8 winning strategies that I am pleased to introduce to you:

The first strategy is one that Vietnam market is implementing: Making its products cheaper, some businesses have also introduced new business models at low prices.

The second strategy is to design an optimal customer experience. For example, you want to buy coffee, and there are plenty of coffee shops. Then Starbucks has convinced everyone that Starbucks is your third home, you will have different experiences there, with a wide range of coffee selections, and you can use your laptop to work there additionally.

The third strategy is to have products with highest quality, there is always a market that requires best-quality products; luxury market for example, some Italian shoes designers are very competent of this, and their products are symbols of high quality.  

The fourth strategy is to become leader in particular field. Surely there always is a particular product that serves some particular people in the world, you only need to capture a particular market and become an expert in the field. It’s not my expectation to ask everyone become a single expert; there might be some new competitors in the field, at this point you must have a certain mix of separate market, with 2 – 3 forte areas; for instance, if your car has four tires, even when one tire blows, the car can still move forward.

The fifth strategy is to have completely novel business model. The business type is still the one you have been doing, but in completely new method. Someone in France invented a hotel without manager: you can enter by swiping your credit card above the entrance door, there are already full self-service equipment inside, therefore the costs reduce greatly. A research shows that most billionaires themselves invented new business models and found out price control methodologies.

The sixth strategy is to innovate products; for instance, fashion watches; you can own many pieces of them at the same time, mix different outfits with different watches; moreover, it’s something collectible. The driving force to continuous success and development is not about to have enough customers, it is about to have enough creativity.

The seventh strategy is to do well at designing. Good design will be the method that create high-efficiency, make products become better and give good image in all aspects. 

The eight strategy is to get bundle of customers’ information. You can have a customer relationship system, you know what your customers need better than your competitors do, you can tailor it to your needs. We know two must-have skills any company should possess: firstly improvisation, and secondly personalization. For example, a female customer wants to buy a swimsuit, if you take a picture of this customer, then upload it on your computer to dress her different swimsuits and help her design them, it’s personalization. Personalization is about understand your customers well, and take good care of them at the same time.