This is my version of summarising the work of Niraj Dawar (When Marketing is Strategy)

1. TURNING MARKETING TO STRATEGY IN
BUSINESS
By Fezile Dhlamini
As a business, overtime, as your business grows what is most important is staying top of mind.
What this means is that, you brand needs to move from being a competitive brand to one that
uniquely stands out and is of value to consumers. But does that mean that convenience =
customer loyalty? Should convenience be target audience specific or can it be all around? But
I can suggest that customer loyalty has to do with your availability of your brand for the
consumers and also the strategy used for them to see your brand. For example, Ferrari and
Toyota would not have the same marketing strategy because their brands appeal and directly
target consumers of different LSM statuses.
As a business, it may be easy to move your product, but, like everyone else, it is the strategy
taken to move it that matters most and distinguishes your brand from others. Since we are in
an era where ‘the consumer is king’, what brands need to do is look at how they can evolve
the service to consumers to keep them loyal to the brand. Customers and the market now
stand at the core of the business. If competitive advantage still allows other brands to catch up
overtime, then flexibility is important for organisations, experience and knowledge of where
the business is and where it should go is key. Being better isn’t the norm anymore, it is how do
you distinguish you service deliver, how is the purchase criteria optimised (for example,
previously disadvantaged individuals who are the black diamonds are striving to live the
aspirational lifestyle they have always dreamt of), this boils down to the position that the brand
takes in the market (for instance, Hendricks Gin catering to a NYC Hippy Market). As much as
consumers are now the driving force of the market, brands should stay ahead through

2. forecasting and understanding the driving forces behind consumer purchasing decisions and
also understanding the pace and evolution of the markets.
Practices of the organisation are important. Successful organisations have a strong internal
(upstream) and external (downstream) competitive advantage. Internally would refer to its
employees, strategies, business developments and its engine that keeps it going (Apple and
Google patents). Externally, it would refer to its relationships with its stakeholders, branding,
customers and channel partners (Apple and Google communication platforms with the
market). Internal and external competitive advantage is important for a number of reasons
which I will explain through an example, using Coca-Cola (Dawar: 2013, 2).
What would happen to Coca Cola’s ability to raise financing and launch operation anew
if all of its physical assets around the world were mysteriously go up in flames one
night? The answer, most reasonable business people conclude, is that the setback
would cost the company time, effort, and money – but Coca Cola would have little
difficulty raising the funds to get back on its feet. The brand would easily attract
investors looking for future returns.
Another scenario is, if 7 billion consumers around the world were to wake up one
morning with partial amnesia, such that they could not remember the brand name Coca
Cola or any of its associations. Long standing habits would be broken, and customers
would no longer reach for Coke when thirsty. In this scenario, most business people
agree that even though Coca Cola’s physical assets remained intact (infrastructure and
cash), the company would find it difficult to scare up the funds to restart operations. It
turns out that the loss of downstream competitive advantage – that is, consumers’
connection with the brand – would be a more severe blow than the loss of all upstream
assets.
What this means in the end is that for a brand or an organisation to remain successful
and have that real competitive advantage, it would have to be reliant on the loyalty of
its consumers who are not willing to change or even to try other brands’ products or
services when they have no choice.
LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS, OR NAH!

3. Organisations are labelled as being ‘market oriented’ because they have mastered the art of
listening to consumers, understanding their needs, and developing products and services that
meets those needs. That is rather the modern way of thinking in business. That is practising
the 4 Ps of marketing and not evolving as an organisation. Organisations need to look at other,
optimal avenues.
A customer’s purchasing decision must be shaped by brands. Create demand, do not succumb
to consumer demands, even though that is what creates the opportunity. Consumers are
inquisitive, they yearn for something new and fresh, something different that they associate
to. They must be given something to want, and at the same time brands need to avoid industry
conformity. “Buyers increasingly use company defined criteria not just to choose a brand but
to make sense of and connect with the market place.
”those criteria are also becoming the basis on which companies segment markets, target and
position their brands, and develop strategic market positions as sources of competitive
advantage. The strategic objective for the downstream business, therefore, is to influence how
consumers perceive the relative importance of various purchase criteria and to introduce new,
favourable criteria” (Dawar: 2013, 3). This is all achieved with innovation.
For products of services offered, brands should not be obvious with marketing and placing
their brand as “the other brand”, but should rather focus on the benefits of consumers using
their brand instead of their competitors. Find a niche, connect that niche with your consumers
and sell have that as a unique selling point to have your brand superior over others. Through
marketing, should you want to grow as a brand, you need to get the job done. For instance,
the event experience must be real and worth more than what the customers paid for. That
inevitably results in brand loyalty (evangelists develop).
THE EROSION OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
As stated by Dawar (2013, 4), “The traditional upstream view is that as rival companies catch
up, competitive advantage erodes. But for companies competing downstream, advantage
grows overtime or with the number of customers served – in other words, it is accumulative”.
As an organisation it is important to decide as to whether it wants to focus on upstream or
downstream, there may be no realistic choice, but the strategic departments need to be
divided to ensure that it specialises in achieving upstream and downstream goals.

4. The core business of an organisation may not be upstream and downstream, if it is data driven,
meaning it has lots of users or consumers in a network to cater for it would require to focus
that core business on satisfying the needs of its consumers downstream. Facebook is an
example, where it’s all about network effects: its users want to connect want to be where
everyone else is hanging out. The people that join Facebook and want to use the service as
often as possible, the more likely that other users such as their friends will stay. This constitutes
a classic downstream competitive advantage. The market space is their home. In the end, the
results are accumulative for the brands. How the downstream competitive advantage works is
that:
In the market space there may be hundreds of competitors who offer the same services
at a lower cost, but not of the same quality as the one with the competitive advantage.
Despite the cost factor, customers will still choose the one that is unique and provides
a service that cannot be replicated regardless of the organisation’s price offering. The
competitive edge results in accumulation because customers have identified what it is
that they want and the value they derive from it.
CHOOSING COMPETITORS, OR NAH?
“Conventional wisdom holds that firms are largely stuck with the competitors they have or that
emerge independent of their efforts. But when advantage moves downstream, three critical
decisions can determine, or at least influence, whom you play against; how you position your
offering in the mind of the customer, how you place yourself vis-à-vis your competitive set
within the distributive channel, and your pricing’ (Dawar: 2013, 4).
For example, with an events company. If your events are targeted to a Premium Youth Market,
you have a choice with regards to how you position it: experience based through brand
activations, selling high priced alcohol, high priced entrance, an invite only event, using mass
media to talk to all consumers and only expecting a few hundred to respond (BMW, Mercedes
marketing model), or as a pretentious event inviting those who are likers and just want to be
there. In each instance, the customer perceives the benefits of the event differently, and is
likely to compare the event (as a product) to a different set of competing events (products).
As a brand, you should never think that you have no competition. No matter how you position
your brand, be it as an incumbent or joining what’s already there, competition results. Either

5. you can position yourself alongside your competition or away from it. For instance, in a
shopping isle, competitive cost advantage exists. For instance with laptops are a Dion Wired
store, one should remember that not all laptop buyers are buying solely for the criterion of
cost (some are buying for aspirational purposes, for example), but for those who are, Apple
would be an attractive choice. Cost advantage = aesthetic appeal in most cases.
“If you would prefer not to be compared with any other brands, then you’re better off
marketing, distributing, and packaging your products in ways that avoid familiar cues to
customers… The lack of differentiation encourages competition, when many of these brands
would be better off avoiding it” (Dawar: 2013, 5). Strategically placing your brand in the market
is important because it allows consumers to identify it and make it distinguishable. What is
important is having consumers having the ability to recall your brand without needing to
compare it (saying “it’s like MTV, VH1, Facebook and Snap Chat in one”), or mumbling what it
could be – that is why brand experience is important. Brand experience can be thoroughly
practised using the 4 E’s of Marketing (Everyplace, Evangelism, Experience, and Exchange).
Even with everything else surrounding the consumer, and that which has ability to sway their
purchase decision, pricing still plays a role. Consumers are constantly looking for an established
brand and value proposition. Even with the ‘established brand’ factor, the right pricing might
accomplish the objective.
“Although choosing to avoid competitors may minimise the head-on competition, there is no
guarantee that you won’t still have to contend with competitors you didn’t want or ask for. But
if you’ve done your homework and established dominance on your criterion of purchase, me-
too competitors will be putting themselves in an unfavourable position if they choose to follow
you” (Dawar, 2013, 5).
INNOVATION: BETTER PRODUCTS OF TECHNOLOGY?
Your product/brand must be known for something specific. Do not be like be like BlackBerry
where you were solely known for “Free internet” and “BBM” that you fail to evolve your
offering in time. “Companies compete ferociously against one another not to prove superiority
but to establish uniqueness” (Dawar: 2013, 5). Even though there was no other competing IM
like BBM, BlackBerry could have worked more at fixing its hardware and software to optimise
the user experience of the IM service and all round device features. But because some brands

6. emphasise different criteria of purchase, they appeal to very different customers. A BlackBerry
user and a Samsung user purchase the devices for various reasons, where Samsung is more of
a gadget device appealing to a market that loves evolution in smartphone technology, a
BlackBerry user is more aligned to the business functionalities of the device.
The upstream elements also matter. It complements the downstream activities to brand
building. Reinforcement of a brand’s service offering and reason for the consumers association
to it is important. Consumers need to be reminded why they are loyal to specific brands, they
need to be well informed as to what the brand is doing that is optimising the user experience
of it, and the value proposition constantly needs to be re-evaluated so that it keeps its
competitive edge (advantage).
HOW ELSE CAN BRANDS INNOVATE?
The persistent belief that innovation is primarily about building better products and
technologies leads managers to an overreliance on upstream activities and tools, which is not
the best of solutions in this current paradigm. Which is what Samsung has found itself doing as
it is competing with Apple to being the World number 1 smartphone manufacturer by
introducing new features to its Galaxy range. Maybe a brand does not need to change anything
about it. The key solution can simply be that the downstream activities need more flexibility.
Samsung started out flourishing with innovative upstream and downstream activities, but has
now positioned itself more upstream. “Competitive battles are won by offering innovations
that reduce customers’ costs and risks over the entire purchase, consumption, and disposal
cycle” (Dawar: 2013, 5).
Innovation could also mean doing something better, or giving consumers more opportunity to
purchasing your brand at a less of an expense where there is a long-term win for the brand.
“Reducing costs and risks for customers is central to any downstream tilt – indeed, it is the
primary means of creating downstream value” (Dawar: 2013, 6).
REFERENCE
Dawar, N. (2013). When Marketing Is Strategy. Available from: https://hbr.org/2013/12/when-
marketing-is-strategy/ar/1