Marketing......
Marketing is just smoke and mirrors."
"It's all about selling people things they don't need at prices they
can't afford."
"Marketing uses slick ads and exploitative tactics to take advantage
of stereotypes, fears, and unrealistic fantasies."
"No one but large corporations can afford it."
"We're not ready for marketing. Once we have finalized the product,
worked out the bugs, and seen how it works, then we might invest in
it."
We've all heard and, at times, hidden behind these myths, but solid
marketing is a key component of business success that can support
both the financial and social bottom lines of your organization.
Many people use the word marketing to refer to a broad set of
promotional and outreach activities aimed at communicating a business
proposition to customers and other important audiences. These
activities often include advertising, media relations, direct mail,
promotional offers, online promotions, sales materials, and various
tactics. While all these are important, we are focusing here on
marketing strategy.
Strategic marketing involves acquiring a deep understanding of the
needs and desires of your existing and potential customers, and
designing your business (products, services, delivery mechanisms,
customer experience, branding, outreach, and more) to meet or exceed
their needs and desires. At its core, good strategic marketing can be
deeply aligned with building a socially responsible business because
it demands a constant focus on the customer's needs, drives
development of quality products and services, and often encourages
alignment with customer values.
Thus, marketing is a core business strategy. Think about it as a
baseline of business development and ensure that marketing-based
questions and analyses are present and utilized in all business
planning processes. Instead of mapping out the product concept, price
point, and manufacturing and distribution plan, and then asking, "How
will we sell it?" ask, "How do we design the product concept, set the
price, and so on to best meet the needs of the market?"
Using marketing as a core business strategy in your business means
(1) making sure that it is at the table from the beginning; (2)
distinguishing between strategy and tactics; and (3) developing and
using marketing plans.
In some companies, marketing efforts are orchestrated by a dedicated
marketing professional. In many others, they come from the corner of
an entrepreneur's desk and compete with all other business needs for
time and attention. Regardless of the capacity and sophistication of
your marketing resources, using the marketing mindset at the
beginning of each major business decision—and throughout the
development process of a company, product, or service—will help you
avoid pitfalls, expand opportunity, and drive success.
Marketing strategy encompasses:
· identification of measurable goals and objectives
· understanding of audience needs, desires, values, options,
etc.
· segmentation and prioritization of audiences
· development of core business, product, or service propositions
· identification of your outreach approach (e.g., engage true
believers, demonstrate the lifestyle, link to community values, etc.)
· selection of tactics to implement your approach
Marketing tactics are the means or tools that deliver the messages to
the audiences, such as:
· Direct outreach (employee and customer communication,
customer experience, design, etc.)
· Preparation and dissemination of collateral material
(packaging, brochures, sales sheets, etc.)
· Online communication (Web site, viral marketing, etc.)
· Advertising (print, electronic, online, out of home, etc.)
· Public relations (media relations, community relations,
public affairs)
· Promotions (contests, events, discounts and incentives, etc.)
Many marketers do not maximize and leverage resources because they
invest in marketing tactics before establishing a marketing strategy.
Focusing on an ad, media release, brochure, Web site, or other
promotional tactic before identifying your priority audience and your
core value proposition creates waste, inefficiency, and missed
opportunities, just as would purchasing Sheetrock, pipes, and windows
prior to developing a design concept and blueprint for your home.
Starting with Strategy
ColorGraphics in Seattle is one of a few printers on the West Coast
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It utilizes rigid
water and air quality standards, careful paper-use planning, and fast-
drying UV inks that emit fewer toxins—all of which reduces its impact
on the environment and produces a higher-quality print product.
The company wanted to create a brochure to better sell its green
printing advantage. But before starting work on this tactic, its
leadership took a step back and asked, "Who are our current customers
and our desired customers, and why will they select us?" They
conducted executive interviews with print buyers and CSR (corporate
social responsibility) managers. When they learned that their
company's potential customers thought of green printing merely as
using recycled paper, and considered price and quality their main
decision drivers, they knew they needed to educate the market about
green printing and get the better-quality message up front.
The leadership team created a marketing strategy that defined the
company's message framework, segmented its audiences, and served as a
guide for the development of a brochure and identification of other
tactics to educate the market effectively.
So each time you start to consider a tactic, ask yourself or your
team, "Is this tactic based on, and in accord with, our marketing
strategy?" If it isn't, or if there is no strategy in place, capture
the good ideas about it and set them aside while identifying your
strategy. You can then return to the tactical ideas, develop those
that advance your strategy, and discard those that do not.
Emphasizing Answers
To ensure that marketing is a core business strategy, and that
strategic marketing is driving tactical choices, use a written
marketing plan or framework for every major initiative. Writing the
plan demands that you ask and answer core marketing questions,
produces more informed choices, and makes it easier to communicate
your strategy to other team members and partners.
Marketing plans can be tailored to fit the resources and market
potential of each venture or individual project. But every plan—
whether written on the back of a napkin and pinned to your bulletin
board or developed by a multidisciplinary marketing team and
presented to your investors—should entail responses to the same basic
questions:
· What is our business's mission and vision?
· What measurable goals do we need to accomplish and advance
our mission and vision?
· What market needs/desires are we seeking to fulfill?
· What customer/audience segments are we targeting?
· What do we know about each segment's needs, desires, relevant
habits and behaviors, communications and media preferences, and core
values?
· What is our compelling market and value proposition (the
unique benefit customers receive in exchange for their purchase)?
· What is our compelling values proposition (the unique social
benefit customers create/share by voting with their dollars)?
· What are the key messages (emotional and factual) that are
critical to motivate action by our target customers/audience segments?
· What are the most effective marketing tactics to deliver the
message to customer/audience segments?
· How much do we need to invest in time and money to be
effective?
· Who needs to be responsible for each task, and what are their
deadlines?
· How will we measure success?
Strategic marketing is not a prescribed set of tactics. It is not a
veil of spin to push products or services. It is not a mysterious and
byzantine faith to be practiced only by an anointed few. It is a
discipline that helps you understand the needs and desires of the
marketplace and make choices that effectively leverage your resources.
Strategic marketing drives success by connecting customers with your
answers to their needs.
http://bit.ly/socialmediaswag
Posted By: Pam Perry
Monday, April 25th 2011 at 7:58PM
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