Marketing and Leadership

I met with a friend last week to help him work on his company's marketing plan. We first just set up our plan for the coming weeks and thinking about what the final product will contain. It still got me thinking that, in line with my "leadership is everywhere" post that really, this is kind of a logical and systematical way to create a leader.

Thinking about the establishment of a new product with the leader-follower-situation framework gets interesting. Technically, most people find out a product (leader) and then go on to try to find buyers (followers) for it. This approach works to a certain extent, at least here in Montreal, since there are so many potential buyers. But what one should look at is the situation.

Usually, leaders somehow organically arise based on a situation, nearly completely created by it and the followers who need help or guidance. It is possible to replicate this to some extents with products through a thorough and unbiased analysis of the market. So, before you think that you have the best product, you leave yourself open and allow heavy modifications to your product and look at your potential market. You understand what their needs are, what they really want. Basically, you want to understand the situation and find the best leader for it. Responding to the situation means you are also telling your followers that you understand them and want to change an area of their lives that they feel is inadequate.

Of course, most marketing plans, like what I'm trying to do with my friend, do not start out that broad. You do already have a product, sometimes even customers, and you are trying to better focus it to fit the situation. This is why, as I said earlier, keeping an open mind about your product and being willing to modify it is crucial.