I was standing in Lipton’s testing room in Bristol with the Global Marketing Director, in 1996, learning one of the most important lessons in marketing.

From my 32 years in marketing, I know that the best and easiest way to succeed in launching a new product and building a successful brand is by leading your market category.

The idea is taking ownership of a market category in the minds of the customers. One of the four basic market strategy definitions is ‘what market category should we play in’. If you can’t lead the market, you should invent a new market category.

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” What most entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the most important part of planning is setting your monthly objective and goals.

Surprisingly, it’s also the easiest part.

I’d like to share the way I use goal setting to multiply business success.

But first, I want to walk you through some axioms I know will change the way you look at setting goals and will enable you to reach your entrepreneurial success fast.

Real time startup launches are SO exciting!

Step by Step from a market strategy and plan to the product launch

For me, the best thing ever in my professional world is watching a product transform from totally unknown to a popular brand name.
I guess I’ve been lucky in my timing, getting into the right companies at the right times. I’ve had incredible opportunities to work with the leading international retailers on one hand and the leading agencies on the other.

And then, I had, and still have, the opportunity to see the shift from print, voice, and TV advertising to online marketing, not to mention the tremendous shift currently happening in social media. The ability to engage with ‘any customer, anywhere’ is exciting, fascinating, and holds so much potential.

In my first email to my new subscribers I ask:

“What are your biggest struggles with getting more paying customers and marketing your business? “

I get so many answers. The one I get most is “Where do I start?”

The second is “How can I find the right customers for my business?” meaning clients that will appreciate your solution and will pay the price your product or service worth.

I started my executive professional life at the early age of 27. Since then, I’ve always been on the companies’ boards. Yet, I’ll never forget the advice I heard at my first marketing job, from the tough, loud sales manager:
“You can be the best marketer or general manager in the world, but if you can’t knock on a stranger’s office’s door, say hi, and sell them a system (we sold water purifying systems) – you will never succeed in business.”
He was right. I learned to sell and since then, most of the business doors I wanted, opened for me.
That was the best advice I received as a businessperson and an entrepreneur.
What was yours?