Grant Stanley Consulting

Innovators or Sheep? Have you ever notice that so many companies want to be visionary? Able to predict future products and services you need; but yet they also say they respond to market demand by being market-driven . Seems to me that’s an oxymoron. Can you be both market-driving and market-driven? To disruptively break free from reactive business strategy and accelerate the agile and pivot-able strategy, we need to understand the difference between market-driving and market-driven companies. In his 2004 book, “Marketing as Strategy,” Nurmalya Kumar characterised these two types of strategies. Market-driving companies rule the future – they push the envelope of possibility and consistently surprise customers by introducing unique value in exceptional brand new products and services. Market driven companies are doomed to fall increasingly further behind as they react to customer needs that will surely change by the time they deliver the ultimately out of date p...

Marketing Spend in 2015   There’s no better time than the New Year to bring fresh ideas to your business. Last year we saw the rise of crowdfunding, the announcement of exciting wearable technologies, and a continued effort to engage customers through social media and mobile. It was a year of thrilling trends in consumer development. How many times have you or one of your colleagues said “That’s just the way things are done around here”? Don’t get stuck in a pattern of doing things a certain way just because that’s how things have always been done. Ask WHY, and if there isn’t a good reason perhaps now is the time to think of changing. Innovation in 2015, innovative ways to spend your budget. There’s no better time than a New Year and a new budget to bring fresh ideas to your business. Here are 5 exciting and innovative places to allocate your marketing budget in 2015 with an eye toward future revenue streams: 1. Getting to know your buyers Consumers are expec...