Focus strategy: Power of a Brand in 2 practical examples

1 purple balloon among many white balloons

Focusing strategy enables you to increase the value of your Brand and improve the Business of your Company or Activity.

Today’s reflection takes as its starting point a paragraph from the book “Focus” by Al Ries.

The art of politics is to publicly and blatantly give up votes that you already know you would not receive anyway.

And so it is that in reflecting on what Al Ries said and bringing it into the world of everyday Business, I have matured some considerations.

Often times in order to increase market share, sales and profit, we implement strategies, which have as their only goal to meet the needs of all consumers. In three words , we de-focus the business.

But in doing so we risk not pleasing any of them.

I have argued for years that the focus strategy is perhaps the sharpest and most successful weapon for winning in the marketplace.

Definition of focus in marketing strategies

Produce a narrow, not to say essential, range of products and/or services aimed at a specific and recognizable Market and Target.

Focusing is the Market Positioning strategy for improving and consolidating a company’s Business.

At Factory Communication Marketing, Communication, Web and Social Media Strategy Agency, we say this all the time and at every useful opportunity.

As you may have read several times in the articles on this blog, one of the main themes I address is that of focus.

GOP (Gross Operating Margin) and Focus go hand in hand. If you want to improve your Company’s Business I suggest you continue reading this article.

Focusing falls under the activities of Marketing and Communication strategic for market positioning.

If you want to get your Company or Business off the ground, you are in the right place.
Take five minutes, because what you are about to read can radically change your approach to business.

Why the Focusing Strategy?

To express the value of this strategy let’s take an extremely simple example. Then as you continue reading, you will see real examples.

Let’s try to think about the sun.
It has incredible energy; it could burn anything. It does not happen because its energy is evenly distributed.

Now we take a magnifying glass and point it at a piece of paper, shortly after the paper first blackens in one spot, then catches fire.

This expresses the power and effectiveness of focus.

Let’s look around. Let’s walk into a supermarket. Let’s take a trip to Ebay and the Amazon marketplace.
For each type of product, there are endless variations.

We walk along the streets of our cities.

Dozens of similar stores selling the same goods.
What is their differentiator? In what do they make a difference.

For the same product, the difference is made exclusively by the experience we give our customer. What in marketeering jargon is called the customer experience.

Well. Can we entrust the future of our businesses solely to the user experience?
I think not.
So it is critical to analyze our business model.

Analyze our medium- and long-term strategy to see if our company still has a prosperous future ahead. Or is it destined to disappear like so many other companies.

This introductory hat is essential to address the topic of the day.

Do you want to improve your Company’s business? Focus the Business

If our Product clearly and explicitly targets a particular niche Market, for example all those who like dark craft beer, it is clear that it becomes difficult to gain market share among those who like light non-alcoholic beer.

But if management decides to do this, the Company is forced to make a new product line.

Result: those who like non-alcoholic pale ale will never buy it because they will not recognize such requirements in the Brand.

Loyal Customers who used to buy the beer because it was the “typical Dark Craft Beer” will no longer buy it because they feel betrayed by the brand.

And this is how scattershot projects arise, which are likely to generate value in the very short term

In the long run, however, they tend to dilute energies and forces across multiple areas and markets, causing them to lose focus and market share.

Otherwise, if we design a marketing and communication strategy based on the principle that “we cannot please everyone” by focusing on one target audience, we will have the opportunity to improve the service/product and consequently also our margins.

No one owns 100 percent of the market share.

Focusing strategy: 2 practical examples

The focus strategy allows you to identify a new market niche and immediately become its leader.

The objective of this article is to parallel the importance of creating new products or services ( range extension) with the consequent problem of de-focusing your Company’s business.

The more energy is dispersed, the more difficult it will be to get things right.

The more we can Focus the Business, the easier it will be to establish and increase the visibility and reputation of our Brand.

Focusing Strategy: Modobag

Modobag: the electric suitcase turns into a means of transportation. Here is a brilliant case of Focusing.

That I get fixated on focus is clear by now. Even when I visit my mother she says let’s talk about everything but don’t stress me out with that stuff there again.

Yet it’s all there at play.
The real business, revolves around this very magic word: focus.

And now let’s look at the second practical example: Modobag, the suitcase that turns into a means of transportation.
Fun, useful and effective.

When I saw it, the first thing I thought was, “But how did I not think of it first?”

I believe a lot in energies and the universe. They explained and I realized that these ideas are all around us. They speak to us, we listen to them, maybe we can even imagine them but, then, we don’t do anything with them. We don’t put ourselves out there.

Until someone, more open-minded or innovative, like Steve Jobs, just to name one, decides to try. He decides to put himself out there.

And that is how an idea becomes a product. A product a Company. A Company a Brand on a global level.

I don’t know if this will also be the future of Modobag, I honestly hope so.

Not to be overlooked is the launch video. Well researched, simple and entertaining.

Now back to us.
How many manufacturers are there of small portable transportation? Bicycles and scooters that you pull out of a bag and then assemble. Skateboards and scooters.

Then there are the case manufacturers, say, at least a few hundred Brands.

And then there is the genius who decides to put a small electric motor, two wheels and a kind of steering wheel. And so you can get your suitcase to chauffeur you wherever you are.

Who to say. Wow.
But how do these ideas come?

They generally arise from a need.

They are a suitcase company and I want to create a new niche market, or competitors produce in China and are too competitive with my prices…or….. the reasons can be many.

And how many Companies produce small transport vehicles?

Often times the idea is more likely to come to you, simply to satisfy a need in that moment.
I’m at the airport, I don’t feel like walking, much less lugging my suitcase, and I’m thinking, but why can’t you be the one to carry me? Bingo.

Each of us has a million of these ideas every year. Yet we never have the courage to try them.

Well regardless of how the ideas come, what you see in this video and read on this page is a case of focusing and creating a new niche market.

This is the great Goal for an entrepreneur.

Take your product or service and then ask yourself how you can make it even more exclusive and unique. Probably not everyone will like it-in fact, definitely.

But so it must be otherwise it would not be a niche market.

Optima a clear example of de-focusing

Optima, this company that has recently entered the global, utility world.

Electricity, gas and telecommunications are now commodities.

There are companies that have been leaders in this market for years. Enel, Fastweb, Vodafone, Three just to name a few.

They fight a tough war with a knife between their teeth to win in their own market.

A war that led to drastic reductions in marginality.

And it is important to consider that they are not only leaders in their market. They have credibility, reputation, know-how.

We can say that they are focused on their target market.

Now let’s analyze Optima’s strategy

Electricity, Gas, Fiber, Fixed and Mobile Phone, all in one offer.

Not only that. If you subscribe for FREE 10 GB and 1,000 minutes per month of mobile phone and landline for FREE for all.

By the way, the afterword, which you can also see in the image, indicates *aslong as you remain an energy customer.

This indicates that their target market, the one that creates the true or assumed margins, is the electricity market.

Now I wonder.

How can I make a difference?
How can I be competent in such different markets?
How can I equip efficient customer care that responds to telephony-related needs with the same reliability, preparation, and clarity as electricity and gas? Totally different sectors.

The commercial offer and promise to the customer are clear: If you take the whole package from us, you save money. This is the apparent competitive advantage for customers.

But at what price?

How do you take prompt action on totally different problems: connectivity, electricity and gas supply?
I assume Optima is a reseller, that is, it buys services from national providers and then resells them to its customer.

But where is the business?
How long can it last?
How can you gain market share when you have historic, focused and huge companies as competitors?

Not only that.

If I don’t pay a fee, I’m basically left in one fell swoop without all the services.

Dramatic. Imagine a company that, for whatever reason, is simultaneously left without connectivity, light for the machines it produces, and gas for heating.

Conversely, if I apply the focus strategy, I can create a new market niche.

Why can focus strategy help a company’s business?

The analysis we have seen today shows how, gradually, a market tends to segment into smaller and smaller niches.

Focusing means choosing one of these niches, or creating a new one.

Tesla created the electric car niche. In this way it was the first to enter the consumer’s head.

You say to a person: electric car, 90% of the time you get Tesla.

As mentioned earlier, the crucial point, is to stay focused in that niche.

When we have saturated one market, we approach a new market, but still with the same product. At the limit, we can modify it slightly, if necessary, to localize it. That is, to adapt it to local customs and habits.

Can the focus strategy be applied in all areas?

I cannot give a definite answer, but in principle I would venture to say that it is possible to adopt a focus strategy for each sector.

It means going from generalist to specialist. That’s all.

To win in the marketplace, it is not important that our product or service is better than that of our competitors.
It is critical that it is different.
It is critical to get into the consumer’s head first.

The focus strategy in summary allows us to:

Building a new market segment that reflects customer needs
Being perceived as an expert in a specific market segment
Building the right value chain and an optimal production system
Adopt competitive and cost-focused strategies (cost leadership)
Implement differentiation strategies that allow product features to be better perceived
Increasing the customer’s perceived value
Fight against those competitors where the only differentiation-oriented strategy consists of the lowest prices and low margins.

We can say that focus strategy is a business strategy to generate profit, reduce production costs, and become a leader in a new market niche.

Want to find out how to improve the visibility and Business of your Company or Business?
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Focus strategy: the Power of a Brand