Do You Have Marketing Myopia?

Most companies we encounter don't market their product correctly. It's been 42 years since Theodore Levitt first introduced the term Marketing Myopia, and our marketing eyesight has not gotten much better. At the heart of the issue is focus: marketing should focus not on products but on customers. You may have Marketing Myopia as well. Let's find out.

The Yellow or Blue Test

Gather up all your marketing materials and strategic documents—everything you use to market your product. Get two highlighters (we like yellow and blue). Go through everything.

When you encounter what we'll call “you” words (that talk about your product or your company or something else about you) highlight them in yellow. When you encounter “them” words (that talk about the needs and problems of your marketplace, or something else about them), highlight them in blue.

Which color do you see most often?

1. If you see a whole lot of blue and not much yellow, you're a 20/20 marketer. Go ahead and do something more useful than read this article: You already have this topic nailed.

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Michael Fischler is founder and principal coach and consultant of Markitek (markitek.com), which for over a decade has provided marketing consulting and coaching services to companies around the world, from startups and SMEs to giants like Kodak and Pirelli. You can contact him by clicking here.