A Quick Intro to Upstream Marketing & Why You Need It

I’ve got a question for you:
What do all the following forms of marketing have in common?

Content marketing
Influencer marketing
Search marketing
Social media marketing
Inbound marketing
Outbound marketing
Re-marketing marketing

The answer is simple:

All are proven, effective ways to promote your business.
They also share a distinct commonality: all are downstream in nature.
This means that they’re mainly tactical tools – delivered digitally, and intended to sell products already developed.

While downstream marketing is necessary, it’s not sufficient.

The Secret of Winning Marketers

Winning marketers at the top of their game persistently focus on expanding their playing field using a strategic approach to identify and fulfill a goldmine of unmet customer needs.

Creating and capturing new market spaces and building strong brands is the domain of upstream marketing.

As we researched and wrote our new book, Upstream Marketing, we gleaned insight from hundreds of client executives and industry experts, including a deep dive on seven prominent companies we profiled in the book:

Amazon
Apple
Google
Nike
Southwest
Starbucks
The Walt Disney Company

A single truth emerged from our research (and from what we’ve seen in our years of management consulting):

Most organizations are looking for growth in all the wrong places.

They think that a catchy ad campaign, revamped website, digital marketing funnel, more new content, a big social media presence, another sales promotion, or similar effort is going to push sustainable growth.

If only…

An Overemphasis on Downstream Marketing

The trouble is that a lot of CEOs, business leaders, and marketing managers see their playing field as largely fixed, and they tend to overemphasize downstream marketing.

In doing this, they fail to leverage the power of upstream marketing to cultivate strong brands and transform their business.

In some cases, we’ve seen them surrender the foundational principles of marketing to the digital era, including an overreliance on marketing push tactics.

Upstream Marketing Unlock Growth: Using the Combined Principles of Insight + Identity + Innovation wants to transform that perspective and provide the principles, tools, and techniques needed to redefine the playing field and unlock sustainable growth.

Say Hello to Upstream Marketing

The book aims to introduce the concept of upstream marketing, establishing a new framework to drive growth by drawing on core principles of insight, identity, and innovation.

A strategic approach to fulfilling customer needs and building new market spaces is facilitated when these core principles are combined with:

6 upstream marketing best practices
4 key business framing questions

The best part? The principles and practices outlined are universal – meaning, they apply to any organization. It doesn’t matter what industry, company size, or geographical location.

Anyone can benefit from this discussion – especially if you want to gain a competitive edge in today’s market: