Twenty years of marketing and product development assistance to companies and organizations throughout the world has provided a wide range of insights. Can they be condensed into a list a top ten tips? Sure they can. These principles are worth considering.

1. Customer Share First.
Marketing can be more efficient and less costly when you create added value for existing customers.

2. Educate.
Customers and referral sources need to know what you do. They need to be informed and educated on an ongoing basis.

3. Continuous Improvement.
There is no finish line. Products and services need to be continuously updated and adapted to reflect user, customer, competitive and market forces.

4. Differentiate by Customer.
Differentiation is best done by focus on a specific group of prospective customers that believe that your offering is for them. The integration of marketing and product is a complete user experience that is defined by a clear and deep understanding of users.

5. Get Physical Fast.
When developing a new product, campaign or strategy, get it down in rough form quickly, without spending a lot of time refining it. Successive Approximation is the best way to make things better. Quantity of options yields quality of final choice.

6. One to One marketing.
The more specific your message is tailored to the individual, the better.

7. Your life is a Focus Group.
Getting feedback on options makes the result more appropriate and meaningful to customers.

8. If it's not broken, Break It.
If you don't, your competitors will. Your business needs to be re-invented, successively.

9. Branding Works.
Branding identifies particular characteristics and a "personality" that users and customers can connect to and trust.

10. Marketing Is For Everyone.
Everyone in your organization is marketing and needs to be trained on their role. This includes receivables, payables, and all others.