Understand your market conditions

- You may think you're leading a team of marketers, and that's your primary job as a manager of people. Well, guess what? It's bigger than that. In reality, you're leading the company's charge into a competitive market situation. Your people are just one of the resources you have to achieve success. Leading a marketing team means leading them into the battle for customers. It's a fight between you and your competitors for customer loyalty and revenue. Hey, either they win or you win. My point is this. As the leader, you have to see yourself as the number one competitor. If your team sees you behaving as anything less than that, they'll have little incentive to take risks and fight the good fight. Now, to win a battle, and I fought many in my career, you have to understand the territory and the rules of engagement. As you step into your new role, there are a lot of things you need to understand. Let's go through them. First, what industry are you in? Now, it may seem obvious, but it's not. You have to characterize your industry carefully. What does the industry do? And what benefits does it provide? For example, instead of saying you're in the newspaper industry, you might define it as the information industry. In other words, kick the traditional definition up a notch. Be sure to get input from your boss and your peers about this. Next, look at the category that you compete in. Using our newspaper example, you may compete in the information industry overall, but the category you participate in is online information regarding trends in marketing for example. Think of the category definition as a more focused, competitive landscape within your industry definition. Now that you're clear about the space you compete in, you need to thoroughly understand what's going on there. Who are the customers that participate in this category? What have been the trends in terms of buying habits, preferences and so on? Are there potential customers who could participate if they had the right incentive? Next, look at your competitor set. Who are the direct competitors, meaning the ones who offer products and services most similar to yours? And who are the indirect competitors that offer an alternative that's different from yours, but delivers the same essential benefit? For example, home security systems offer electronic surveillance to keep your house safe and secure, but so do everyday deadbolt locks. Same benefit, different technology. Also, look at these competitors in terms of their strengths and weaknesses versus yours. Where are they stronger? Where are they weaker? And where are you both the same? Now, here's a tip. If you're a newcomer to this industry, use that fresh perspective to perhaps redefine how your company looks at things. Industries change, help your colleagues perhaps see new ways to define yourselves. Here's another tip. If you're experienced in this industry and category, guess what? It's time to challenge your own assumptions about what's really out there. After all, it's not what you don't know that will get you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so.