Inbound Marketing: Blue Ocean Strategy
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| by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne |
If ever there was a use for a business book, Blue Ocean Strategy is it. Based on research, years of business case studies and all the smarts people could need, this take on marketing is exactly what Inbound Marketing has in mind.
Blue Ocean is a term used to explain the creation of your own market - no competitors, no 'crushing-conforming or else' industry standards, no manipulation of your customers. You're on your own so real value is the game. If you're not on, there's nowhere to hide.
Contrast this with 'Red Oceans' defined by the authors as 'industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities or niche and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody. Hence, the term red oceans."
Basically, Red Oceans is the way the world does marketing and it's why the giants seem to keep winning and the 'little guy' is forced out. But if you read W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, you might decide to get out of that game and into your own. Blue Oceans is, as the authors say, "where competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored." Sound good ? Thought you might think so.
