Digest Number 869

[Guest guest]

I think Bob is on to something here. I think we have already positioned

ourselves very well as the superior #2. People come to us because the

Western doctors have failed, either in their particular case or in

general in the minds of our patients. They don't want to see us as

" doctors " with stethoscopes and an attitude. I'm not arguing that we

should not " try harder " and learn as much Western and chinese medicines.

But we should take our " alternative " status as an asset not as inferioriety.

doug

 

Bob wrote:

According to some marketers, all markets tend to wind up as mainly a

two " product " race in terms of market share, with the product with the

second place share earning half as much as the first place product

(and similarly down the rungs of the market share ladder). According

to Ries & Trout, in such a situation, to imitate the position of the

#1 only reinforces #1's dominance in that market. This point is also

made by Spolestra in Marketing Outrageously (pub. 2001). Therefore, #2

needs to find the creneau, crevass, or chink in #1's marketing

message. This chink will be an opposite message, based on the idea

that every positive idea, when taken to it logical conclusion, has

within it its own weakness. E.g., bigger may be better, but

bigger may also be slower, more cumbersome, less responsive,

etc. Viz. Hertz v. Avis.