Thought of the Day-- Steering Away from, "The Generic Brand Mentality"

        Knowing all of your competitors', direct and indirect, is crucial in implementing a successful strategic marketing plan.  However, it is imperative to create a differentiated strategic plan, and stay clear from what I coin, "the generic brand mentality."  A generic brand refers to mimicking a top brand or top competitor's product/service attributes, or to be more specific, a top brand or competitor's strategies.  Mimicking a competitor's strategy will lead to static performance, market share decline or freeze, or worse, total failure.

        Therefore, one must look at a competitor's weaknesses, markets that they are not tapping, and product/services that consumers are looking for that the competition are not delivering, and capitalize on those important aspects.  Thus, formulating and implementing a strategic plan that is not generic, hence, a generic brand mentality that is not evident in strategies is the way to not only increase profits and market share, but differentiating your company's products/services, leading to a successful strategic plan and overall market share and profits.