Is Branding or Customer Service Helping You Avoid Becoming Obsolete

Netflix is eating into HBO's subscribers with its streaming movies, TV shows and specials, and soon Amazon will be challenging Netflix … and it all started with the demise of Blockbuster.

Blockbuster followed Caldors, Ames, and other companies into oblivion.

Walmart and Target aren't different than Caldors, Kmart or Sears in what they stock in their stores or where stores are located? They didn't stay competitive. Will Walmart and Target be able to remain in demand 10 years from now? Circuit City lost its battle while Best Buy continues to operate stores and their online sales over the 2013holiday season posted strong numbers.

Everything in business continues to evolve, and without future thinking, an upstart can suddenly bring another business to its knees. Operating and marketing as you have from the beginning has spelled disaster for brand that existed for decades. Learning from businesses that became obsolete and those that are surviving begins with answering these questions.

1. How do you envision your customers’ wants and needs five years from now? Where will they be and how will you be front and center with them?
2. How much time do you spend working on your business instead of in it?
3. How do you envision the distribution and promotion channels for your business changing five years from now?
4. Does your company have a clear online vision in place, a complete marketing strategy that emanates outward from the Internet?
5. Do you provide an unbeatable customer-focused experience that exceeds customers’ expectations? Could a push-button kiosk, a vending machine or a robot replace your product or service if your customers decide that having no customer service is better than having poor customer service?

With all the brand awareness and advertising dollars in the world, success and a return on your investment are never guaranteed - there are too many factors that affect the marketing mix.

Though your business may not be the size or category where a Super Bowl® ad would be considered, you have a much better chance for success with your marketing efforts simply by analyzing the manner in which the two teams got to the top: by committing to building a championship team from the top down, and having a playbook that defines success at every position.