The visionary companies are efficient, prosperous, and highly expanded business groups that possess the ability to innovate without losing their core essence.
These organizations can produce well differentiated and timeless products that consistently keep the best quality and aesthetics.
Just observe how Nike created the Nike Challenge Court in the 80’s and is still famous nowadays. In a like manner, the ‘Adidas Pro Shell 8’ (1984), and the ‘Nike Air Jordan’ (1985) transformed the markets almost 3 decades ago and are still fresh.
“During the mid-’80s, the “court shoe” definition was somewhat all encompassing. There was no real need for separate shoes for the likes of squash and volleyball (although those were available), and there was no shame in rocking what was meant to be a tennis shoe on the basketball court or vice-versa (word to John Lucas). The Challenge Court was an all-business tennis shoe that saw action in other realms — and has since been revived as part of Nike SB.” (‘The 80 Greatest Sneakers of the ’80s’, by Complex).
The explanation behind the effectiveness of these products is that they that can solve a social need by a unique and revolutionary approach of ‘doing things’ (in this case, high-quality sport-hybrid footwear with a fashionable touch from each label).
Make your own ‘ Nike Air Jordan’
If you want to offer a real competitive advantage (value proposition) in the middle of the ‘Business proliferation Era’, you have to stay in touch with your most precious internal and external audiences. That goes from your workers and associates; to your clients, potential customers, influencers, distributors, providers, the competition and other macro-environment factors (such as the government, the religious groups, the communities, the nonprofit organizations and other influence groups).
The most successful and consistent brands try to control and prioritize their informal connections with their stakeholders. The CEOs have realized the value of building a trustworthy and non-imposed engagement to really comprehend their clients’ nature and to earn their loyalty.
Furthermore, for creating a timely and fructiferous product, you must also have to update your knowledge related to the fashion and cultural trends, national and international legislation and political inclinations, and every relevance event that occurs outside your company. The meaning of external should not be the synonym for distant or forgotten.
All these plans can be effectively regulated and simplified thanks to the Internet and other Informative and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
In other words: to grow into a solid yet creative company you have to focus on the unsolved complaints, broken dreams, unattended needs and other real aspects about a specific group (niche market), or various markets (mass marketing), that you would like to assist with through your operations. Plus, a profound context analysis can help to understand what kind of products your clients are enthusiastic to acquire.
Not to mention that the opening of dynamic, transparent and informational channels can improve the instant feedback to examine a project advancement. Additionally, the ‘conversation windows’ can benefit the new ideas’ formation (and post filter), the concept test and approval, the price sensibility analysis, and other crucial steps (as questionnaires or surveys), in a product’s development and reputation maintenance.
Even though a high budget is an advantage that Adidas and Nike have in common, they did not obtain the worldwide recognition offering nonsense merchandise while they covered their eyes and ears from what their customers really required.
Both companies have been part of the worldwide casual and sports fashion for decades because they have understood how to mold the tendencies into their own style, without jeopardizing the performance quality of their clothes (mainly directed to athletes or casual/urban combinations).
So begin from 0; start by the market segmentation and the setting of an achievable, measurable, motivational and original value proposition.
The value proposition holds all the privileges that you are willing to deliver to your customers as soon as they buy one of your products beyond the satisfaction of a need; it is what makes you different and better from your competition. And, in a world that spins thanks to the ICTs push, the Internet can be a great partner to enhance the customer contact and generate, in their minds and hearts, that they have found the product they always wanted.
Be versatile
By entering the cyberspace, the organizations have numerous opportunities to expand their horizons. We will describe the principal benefits that an own virtual store can give even to a low budget or startup brand:
• A website should invariably be the backbone of your online content strategy. It allows the company to fully utilize the Search Engine Optimization ‘on-site’ and ‘off-site’ tools to improve its indexation on the main SERPs. A notorious (and organic) spot on the Google or Yahoo result pages can lead to more clicks from potential clients and help the construction of a positive perception of the brand.
The marketers and SEO specialists suggest that a website should always include refreshed and educational content, based on real facts and relevant sources (authority outbound links), formed by impeccable grammar and supported by concise and clear ideas that are spread through short paragraphs and empowering subtitles. Preferably, supplemented by an audiovisual material or other resources that can help the user comprehension of the data.
The aim is to present a well-balanced information about what can help your company, but also, what can be really useful to your audience.
In the end, what truly matters is how many times your website is linked back by others (backlinks). Think about it, is pointless to say you are the best if the others don’t share that opinion (when the readers do not trust or see the value in your information).
Continuing with the optimization advice, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the ‘Meta Description Tags’ and the ‘Title Tag’ are other components that can cause a website looks friendlier and cleaner.
The first one is your website virtual ID, so it has to be clear and short. It must contain your ‘name’, in this case, the keyword that describes your operations.
The duplicate content is a current issue that the Moz.com specialists solve by the ‘canonicalization’ of the URL. That occurs when there are two websites with the same or a similar content, or a page has multiple URL. The ’rel=canonical’ is similar to a redirection, a “soft redirect”, as Yoast.com experts affirm.
On the other hand, the ‘Meta Description’ and the ‘Title Tags’ are both the first impression that the readers will have of your website whenever they search related terms that may link to your page or if they type your exact address on the SERPs.
Be detailed, persuasive and sharp, but don’t sell fake content. Always try to sell but also supporting a pedagogical and visionary spirit.
The notoriety will arrive when you discover and take advantage of the original and required social elements that no one has bothered to improve. Your north must be to ease the other peoples’ life with your knowledge and products.
