Value Driven Marketing - A Mind Game

A big amount of Start Ups do not make it passed the first four years of their life. Research by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that nearly six in ten businesses shut down within the first four years of operation. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/05/ressum.pdf

Why is that?

Researchers give many reasons for that. Every reasearcher has its own take on it, every business paper its “Top Reasons Why Start Ups Fail”, every author its take on it. One thing is for sure: Business fail. All the time, and it’s always bad when they do.  And most of the explanations focus on the business or the market. Poor Execution,  no viable market, too much leverage, the wrong place, the wrong idea, the wrong staff.

But I think the most impotant component lies outside of the Company. The question is: Is this the right thing to do for me now?

http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

http://www.squidoo.com/starup_failures

A mind game:

Its clear, that most of the businesses go out of business, because they do not have enough money.  It would be safe to say, that they do not have enough money, because they do not have enough sales. Most of them do not have enough sales, because they do not have enough customers. They have to few customers because they are not good on selling their product. Mostly because they cannot communicate what makes the product special. This is often because the company does not know what makes it special, what is its USP? And my assumption is that this is because the leader, the boss, the entrepreneur is not clear on who he or she is.

Therefore I think successful marketing starts with the entrepreneur knowing who he is, what his or her values are, and where he wants to go with his life. After that, he needs to find out how the company reflects his own values, which values the company needs to have, how it helps him to accomplish what is most important in his own life. After that, the entrepreneur can start thinking about the customers. Which customers think like him, have similar values, and understand what the company stands for.

1. Who am I as a person?
   What are my values, what is my vision, my goals in life?
2. Who are we as a Company?
   What are the companies values? How does it contribute to a better world, what is our vision, mission and goals?
3. Who is our customer?
   What do they value? How do we contribute to their goals?
4. What is our product/service?
   How does our product/service help the customer? How does it make the world a better place