The longer I conduct business, the more obvious it seems that running a business is not, in fact, a competition. And if business is not a competition, competitive analysis is rendered an utterly pointless pastime of the entrepreneur.
As a marketer, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that you have the power to single-handedly propel a product or service to success, a.k.a “move the needle” if you’ve been talking with business executives. However, a seasoned marketer knows that this perspective can be misleading, and downright dangerous. The key to effective marketing lies in understanding that products and customers tell the story, while the most skilled marketers invest in understanding and documenting that story to engage with others.