Back to Marketing Strategy and the Pre-requisite of Market Orientation
A robust marketing strategy that can pave the way to commercial success should be a priority endeavour for any startup business.
Many startups, however, fall into similar pitfalls when it comes to strategy – often not applying enough attention to the pre-requisite of market research and product-market fit. Without these, where do you even start to develop strategy? And without strategy, how can you plan and execute tactics?
You can avoid many of the pitfalls with a big picture mentality, and a meticulous process – one that shouldn’t deviate or short cut straight to tactics. The warning here is to not fall into the ‘tactification’ of marketing.
So often too occupied by tactics, channels, tools and platforms, marketers and businesses have been doing strategy a disservice for too long. In startup businesses, the market is often the key reason for failure – is there actually a significant market for the idea to succeed? Is it enough to challenge incumbents, competition, and alternatives?
Only research that informs strategic targeting and market positioning is going to give you the answer to that.
Many sources, including a significant percentage of failed startups cite the lack of a market need for their product as the primary reason for their failure. This highlights the importance of validating the market demand before fully committing to a product idea.
But as a startup, you have an immense opportunity to do marketing right – quite literally, by starting at the beginning. And where is the beginning?
The beginning is with the customer – what do they really want?
In this blog, you’ll end up knowing what an empty chair and an accidental invention have to do with market orientation – just keep reading…
Understanding Market Orientation and Customer-Centricity in Startups
Market orientation is a business philosophy focused on understanding and meeting the needs and wants of customers.
This approach entails continuously collecting information about customers’ needs and preferences, competitors, and market trends, and then using this information to guide business decisions and strategy. It’s closely related to the concept of customer-centricity, where all business activities are designed around the customer’s experience.
Market orientation is best understood as a business culture. Culture will often cite the customer in their values and principles, but with market orientation it is absolutely central and all-encompassing – something the entire business gets behind.
For startups, establishing a culture of market orientation from the outset can be a massive advantage. This approach enables startups to align product development, enhance customer value, stay ahead of competition, increase agility, and ultimately, drive sustained growth.
Tips at a glance
Ensure that product development is aligned with actual market needs, reducing the risk of developing products that fail to meet customer expectations.
By focusing on what customers truly value, startups can enhance their offerings, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Market-oriented startups are more adept at responding to changes in customer preferences and competitor strategies, helping them stay ahead in competitive markets.
A deep understanding of the market helps startups to be more agile, allowing them to adapt quickly to market changes or disruptions.
Market orientation supports sustainable growth by focusing on long-term customer relationships and adapting to evolving market conditions.
How Brands Thrive
Several global brands have thrived by adopting a market-oriented approach, including a brand we all know well: Amazon. Its success is largely due to its intense focus on market orientation and customer-centricity.
It was a simple customer survey early on that turned Amazon from an online book shop to the mammoth organisation we know today, selling everything from A to Z (Now you know the insight behind the logo)!
The survey asked customers a simple question about what else they would buy from Amazon if they could. At first sight the data acquired from the question looked as though it didn’t offer much specific insight or trends to analyse – answers ranged from items closely related to reading, to things completely outside the category – they cited pretty much anything and everything. But that was the insight.
Its customers would literally use Amazon to purchase anything, which is why your last Amazon order included flea treatment for your itchy dog, as well as a new case for your smart phone.
Jeff Bezos turned Amazon into an “everything store” – a platform where consumers could buy anything they wanted online.
Today, the company continuously gathers customer data to improve their shopping experience, which has led to features like personalised recommendations. This relentless focus on customer satisfaction drives their innovation and helps maintain their market leader status.
Building a culture of market orientation and customer-centricity can significantly influence a startup’s trajectory. By deeply understanding and responding to the market and customer needs, startups can develop more competitive products, create lasting customer relationships, and navigate the challenges of growth more effectively.
Adopting this approach from the beginning embeds these values into the company’s operations, ensuring that customer needs drive strategic decisions at every stage of the business lifecycle.
The Empty Chair
To validate the idea of market-orientation as a culture, we’ll stick with Amazon and the story about Jeff Bezos and the empty chair.
It is quite a famous story and serves as a powerful illustration of Amazon’s commitment to customer-centricity. This approach encapsulates how Bezos and Amazon have continually prioritised customer needs and perspectives, driving many of their strategic decisions.
The concept involves Jeff Bezos placing an empty chair in meetings to represent the most important person in the room: the customer. This empty chair serves as a constant reminder to all attendees to consider the customer’s perspective in every decision and discussion. The practice emphasises that even though the customer isn’t physically present, their presence should always be considered with every decision made at Amazon.
This symbolic gesture reinforced the idea that all decisions should be made with the customer in mind, aligning with Amazon’s core values of obsessing over customer satisfaction and innovating on their behalf.
The empty chair now epitomises Amazon’s corporate culture, which is built around customer obsession – a principle that Bezos has consistently highlighted as key to Amazon’s success. By always considering the customer’s needs and experiences, Amazon strives to innovate and improve its services – you know the ones – Prime, one-day shipping, and easy return processes, Kindle, and so on. These initiatives were developed with a clear understanding of and response to customer demands and have significantly contributed to Amazon’s reputation for customer service excellence.
The empty chair concept is a symbolic gesture and also a strategic practice that has influenced numerous business leaders and organisations worldwide to adopt similar customer-first strategies. The use of the empty chair in meetings is more than just a story; it’s a testament to Amazon’s foundational strategy and a vivid example of effective corporate leadership in action.
This approach has helped Amazon not only to dominate retail but also to expand successfully into cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other industries. By ensuring that the customer’s voice is always part of the conversation, Amazon continues to maintain its competitive edge and innovate in ways that resonate deeply with consumers.
Amazon is always a good example – easy to understand and something so many of us have experienced.
But, perhaps an even more relevant case study here is 3M.
The Accidental Invention
The story of 3M and the invention of the Post-it Note is a fascinating example of innovation and market orientation shaping a successful product. Here’s how the events unfolded, showcasing both the challenges and triumphs of product development and market introduction.
In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M, was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he inadvertently created a low-tack, reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive. Despite his enthusiasm about the potential applications of his discovery, Silver struggled for years to find a practical use for it. His adhesive could stick to objects but was easily removable without leaving residue – a novel property, but without an obvious application.
It wasn’t until 1974 that the concept of the Post-it Note would begin to take shape, thanks to another 3M employee, Art Fry. Fry sang in a church choir and was frustrated by his bookmarks continually falling out of his hymnal. Remembering a seminar he had attended where Silver had presented his adhesive, Fry realised that this “useless” adhesive might have the perfect properties for helping his bookmarks stay in place but still allow them to be repositionable.
Fry and Silver collaborated to develop a prototype product originally called “Press ‘n Peel” bookmarks. Initial market tests were disappointing – consumers did not understand the product and were not interested in buying it. This feedback was crucial, as it indicated that while the innovation was significant, its practical application had not yet been effectively communicated or leveraged.
In 1977, 3M decided to conduct another market test, this time in the Boise, Idaho area. They distributed free samples to offices, aiming to demonstrate the product’s utility directly in its intended environment. This approach turned out to be a turning point. Office workers quickly realised the potential of these sticky notes for writing reminders and sticking them to documents, without damaging them. The test was a resounding success. It wasn’t a bookmark anymore; it was a reminder note.
Encouraged by the positive response, 3M officially launched the Post-it Note in 1980 under a new name that highlighted its functionality. The product was marketed directly to office workers, emphasising how the notes could be used to communicate messages efficiently. The Post-it Note quickly became a staple in offices and homes around the world.
The story of the Post-it Note is a compelling narrative of how innovation and market orientation can interact to create a wildly successful product. Dr. Spencer Silver’s invention did not initially meet a market need, but with persistence and a shift towards a market-oriented approach – particularly through direct consumer engagement and testing – 3M was able to transform a struggling product into an indispensable office tool.
The Post-it Note exemplifies how understanding and responding to customer feedback can shape and refine the application of new innovations.
But there is another more important lesson here – just look at that timeline of events from the low-tack glue’s invention in 1968 to the official launch of the Post-It-Note in 1980 – that’s 12 years!
Not many businesses, and especially not any startup business can afford to find the right product-market fit over this period. The game-changer for 3M from a seemingly useless invention to a market-leading product was in how it shifted to a market-orientated approach.
What might the timeline look like if market orientation is where they started?
The Lesson: Don’t Skip on Market Research & Product-Market Fit
Don’t skip or under-prioritise market research and product-market fit. If you’re serious about understanding your target audience, identifying competitors, and recognising market needs, you simply can’t enter a market with any sort of confidence without the insights.
By skipping this step, startups risk developing products that are out of touch with customer demands, resulting in poor sales and limited growth. To avoid this, startups should conduct surveys, focus groups, and competitor analysis to gather meaningful insights that can guide product development and marketing strategies.
Spend a day in the life of your potential customers shoes – what do you now know about them and how can you leverage that insight for strategy?
Good research will determine whether there’s a good product-market fit – this means your product satisfies a strong market demand. To ensure this right fit, startups should test their products with potential users early in the development process and continually adapt based on feedback. This iterative process can save costly redevelopments after full-scale production has begun.
Marketing a startup business involves more than just showcasing a new technology; it requires a strategic approach that considers the market, the product, and the customer. By understanding market orientation as the perfect grounds to scale, startups can enhance their chances of success in a competitive landscape. Effective marketing can of course communicate the value of the product, but it should also build the foundation for sustainable growth and customer loyalty.
If you enjoyed this, we’ll be continuing to offer marketing insights in the blog and through the Green Machine email subscription service – keep your eyes peeled for topics related to market targeting and positioning, tactics, and informative guest contributions on pitfalls to avoid – from overpromising and under-delivering, to misjudging production and marketing timelines, to ignoring post-sale support and service, or underfunding marketing efforts and not leveraging the right agency or consultation partnerships.
Partners you may want to explore
Department at University of Warwick, running initiatives that determine product-market fit.
Full service marketing agency for market research, strategy development, planning and campaign execution.
Refining great stories for media consumption, and leveraging its network to maximise coverage.
Empowering leaders by clarifying brand, fostering investor confidence, and uniting business functions.
More stories
The Rise of Green Nanotechnology
Green nanotechnology is rapidly emerging as a transformative force in the quest for environmental sustainability.
Smart Grids: The Backbone of Sustainable Energy Management
As the global community intensifies efforts to combat climate change and transition to renewable energy sources, smart grids have emerged as a pivotal component in achieving a sustainable and efficient energy future.
UK Embarks on Ambitious Geoengineering Research to Combat Climate Change
The United Kingdom is taking a significant step in addressing climate change by investing in geoengineering research aimed at exploring methods to cool the planet.
AI’s Dual Role in the Green Transition
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful tool but also a growing challenge in the global green transition.
Access to finance: Unlocking growth for manufacturing businesses
Accessing the right financial solutions can play a pivotal role in driving growth and ensuring stability.
BGWM IR Fuelling Business Growth For SME Manufacturers: 2025 Updates
This event is designed to equip SME Manufacturers in the Black Country, Birmingham and Solihull region, with the latest insights and strategies to fuel growth in 2025.
Investment takes centre stage at COP29 ministerial to triple renewables
COP29 has placed a spotlight on the urgent need to accelerate investments in renewable energy.
A monthly bulletin for GreenTech startups.
Get ready for a lineup of monthly topics aimed at helping your innovation take root.
