Bottom-Up Marketing

Building a Tactic Into a Powerful Strategy

by Al Ries and Jack Trout (12600)

Most traditional marketing is carried out top-down. That is, the senior management decide on a strategy the company will follow and the middle managers decide on the tactics to achieve that strategy.

However, history’s most successful companies have invariably developed strategy from the bottom up. In this method, the company first identifies a tactic that is delivering a sustainable competitive advantage in the minds of consumers. The company then focuses its resources on exploiting that tactic to the greatest possible degree by building the tactic into the company’s entire marketing strategy.

Bottom-up marketing suggests that the best and most effective way to become a marketing strategist is to put your mind into your marketplace and to find inspiration where customers come into contact with your product or service. By immersing yourself in the tactics of whatever works in reality, you can develop a highly effective marketing strategy.

Bottom-Up Marketing