So I read this book a couple of weeks ago, and I read a couple of books since then. Which meant that for me to write this entry, I had to go back and skim the book again to jog my memory. I’m glad that I did.

While this book suffers from the repetitiveness issue that most business books do, it does make for a decent read. While the methodology for selecting the successful companies appears to have major holes (survivorship biases among others), the details on customer segmentation are interesting. It also helped that Capon discussed one of my favorite brands, ESPN.

Capon breaks the marketing issues into five areas:

• Pick markets that matter
• Select segments to dominate
• Design the market offer to create customer value and secure differential advantage
• Integrate to serve the customer
• Measure what matters

Capon is able to discuss some with examples better than others. In terms of picking markets that matter, Capon discusses ESPN’s creation of verticals within television. In terms of selecting segments to dominate, Capon makes a good example of Enterprise Car Rental having picked a segment of the car rental market to dominate that nobody else was serving (namely the people who have their car in the shop), which allowed them to become the largest rental car company in the US. Market segmentation however important is certainly not a new thing. The third point is another where Capon fails to deliver a compelling argument. The fourth one is better stated as everyone needs to keep focused on customer service. Here Capon has examples of companies doing a terrible job at this, and some that do well. Of course the last point is the one that resonated really well with me, namely that people do not what they are expected to do, but rather what they are inspected for doing.

The thing I do like about this book, is that it feels targeted to help people like me who are just getting their feet wet with marketing. It gives a pretty good reference as to what companies who concentrate on marketing look like. At the end of the day, that is both strategic and tactical. The tactical element is the focus on customer service, and the strategic element is deciding which markets to serve in.

Marketing Mavens at Amazon