When I met Mike his greeting card business was already a big success, but he had not built any golf courses. I asked him how his business started, and he shared with me that on Earth Day in 1971 he and his good friend, Phil Friedmann, were discussing how they could start a business that supported the environment. At that time, celebrating Earth Day by launching a business that sustained the environment was novel—and exciting.
The Five Levels of Marketing - Level Five: Vision Sets the Course
May 15, 2025
Phillip Krone
Begin with the end in mind and you’re on the path to long-term success.
To date we have covered the Sales, Information, Tactical, and Marketing Plan Levels. Although the fifth level is the last to be discussed, it is often what sets a business in motion when it is founded. Today we will illustrate marketing to support a vision by discussing two very successful businesses.
Years ago, I had a conversation with Mike Keiser, founder of Recycled Paper Greetings (RPG) and now famously known as the golf course developer of Bandon Dunes and other world-class courses.
They asked themselves what kind of business they could enter that enjoys high margins, low risk, and supports the environment. They decided upon greeting cards, a market then dominated by Hallmark. To reduce risk by avoiding expensive overhead they decided to pay independent artists a commission on how many of their designed cards were purchased in the market. The sales effort consisted of getting retailers to offer both Hallmark and RPG greeting cards. The fundamental marketing vision could be written on a napkin: Environmentally friendly, high margins, low risk.
Another example I have written about for years is Southwest Airlines because at the time they entered the market in 1967 most if not all of the major airlines were losing money. Also, many new airlines had failed, including ones with experienced owners who had been very successful in other fields. One example is the Pritzker family, well known for its Hyatt hotel chain.
Southwest had a vision that clearly differentiated it from other airlines, especially at the beginning. That vision was a focus on simplicity in each cost center:
- Other airlines flew from city A to B to C to D. Southwest would choose two cities and fly between those cities several times each day. Mechanical, weather, or other problems affected only those two cities, not a longer route with multiple destinations.
- Other airlines flew several different kinds of aircraft. Southwest flew only one Boeing model. This meant it was easier to swap one plane for another if needed, and maintaining a parts inventory could be much less expensive.
- Other airlines performed their own maintenance. Southwest realized that to gain competitive advantage they needed to outsource maintenance to the airline that did it best, Lufthansa.
- Operationally Southwest focused on keeping their planes in the air with fast boarding procedures that avoided another issue of the legacy airlines: expensive systems for assigning seats. Southwest also maximized the time their planes spent in the air by flying between cities with the most predictable weather conditions.
- Southwest created a unique culture driven by the personality type they chose to hire: people who had a good sense of humor and would say funny things to entertain and relax passengers.
- The culture sported low-cost, more casual uniforms, including khaki including shorts that replaced more elaborate, varied, and formal uniforms of the major airlines.
- At the beginning Southwest didn’t even allow checked baggage.
- The vision basically was to create a low cost option for people who wanted to travel from one place to another reliably, efficiently, and at a low cost.
We have met businesses that had a very thoughtful vision and this in itself was enough to create success. Over time the other levels of marketing begin to appear as the business grows, but it often just starts with a vision of how a new business will differentiate from the rest of the market in a way that will be valued by its customers be they business or consumer.
What is your vision for your business? How will it be different? How will it create unique value?
I used examples here of visions created years ago because now we have had sufficient time to look back and measure long-term success. That is what is so valuable about the fifth level of marketing, it has the potential for long-term sustainable success.
Finally, be sure to keep these Five-Level Model Marketing Takeaways in mind:
- The fastest way to increase revenue in the short term is to improve the sales function on Level One. This means stronger consultative selling skills, the development of custom sales processes, and productive coaching.
- Effective use of Level Two information can significantly leverage your salespeople’s time and boost their productivity in Level Three tactical sales campaigns.
- The most efficient way to obtain competitive advantage is to market one level above your competition. If they are marketing on three levels, you differentiate by marketing on four.
- The goal is to gain sustainable competitive advantage on all five levels and at the high end of each one.
- There are many ways to market successfully using the Five Levels Model. The first step in getting started is to identify which level you’re currently on and how well you’re doing. Improve on that level and test other levels as it makes sense to find the best combination for your business.
Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss any of the five levels and how they’re working—or not working—for your business. We’re at pkrone@productivestrategies.com and 847-446-0008 Ext. 1
The answer is just about anywhere. But here are several sources we’ve seen work wonders.
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This faith-based not-for-profit achieves 40 percent year-over-year growth for 17 years by applying well-known business principles, one in particular. Why can so few businesses even dream of such growth?
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Last year after a talk I gave at the Small Business Expo on Business to Business Selling (B2B) , a woman asked for my card because she wanted to meet to tell me about her business and learn more about mine. When we eventually got together she shared that her start-up company’s goal was to console consumers who had suffered the loss of a loved one directly, as she had. But my talk had inspired a new idea: assist funeral homes to improve their services by showing more empathy to their customers who were struggling as she was. I sensed that my talk gave her confidence that, despite the challenges, her business could succeed. What I didn’t realize was that this small assignment for a start-up would eventually have such a big impact on her business as well as an industry.
As a reminder, the Five Levels of Marketing are (1) Sales, (2) Information/Data/Analytics, (3) Tactical or Campaign, (4) Marketing or Program, and (5) Vision/Strategic. We’ve explored each of the first three levels in separate columns in August, September, and October. They are available on our website's Productive Insights collection.
Using intelligence from prior levels leads to revenue-building sales campaigns on the ground in real time.
Tracking key types of data each month provides insights that can build a highly productive marketing plan.
The Five Levels -
Sales: Prospecting, qualifying, discovery, presentation, demonstration, proposal writing and closing; Information/Data/Analytics; Tactical or Campaign; Marketing or Program; Vision/Strategic
If you believe you have ADHD, you can be more successful by scheduling fewer first meetings and spending that time on more second and third meetings with qualified prospects. For our client, that meant cancelling half the medical CFO conventions his sales rep was planning to attend and investing more time following up with the CFO prospects he had already met. When your discovery is not productive, step back and restart at the point the discussion began to be about whose system is better. That’s an argument you are not going to win. Don’t waste years in prospect meetings in which you ask the same questions every time and get the same answers. Either decide that your product or service isn’t right for this prospect and move on—or broaden your discovery to find a need behind the need. In this hospital case, the hidden need was a fear that because no outside vendors had audited their system they might be in violation of regulations that an outsider would spot right away.