Defining Core Competencies —Sherburne

In his keynote address at EFI Connect 2007, Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki’s advice, among other things, was to define your innovation or differentiation with a two- to three-word mantra, like Nike’s Authentic Athletic Performance, FedEx’s Peace of Mind, eBay’s Democratize Commerce. This is a good approach that makes it easy for your employees to articulate your value at a top level, or your customers to remember you and identify you with key concepts. But, obviously, developing a marketing strategy needs to go much deeper than that.