Transcript Growth500 Marketing Modulex

Marketing
Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.
This process connects what customers want with what we have to offer.
This is a subtle but significant change in mind set from “Let’s find people who will buy what we have to
sell” i.e. marketing puts the customer needs first. Get that right and the organisation’s success will follow.
Like every other process in your business, marketing is a planned activity. That’s why we should have a
marketing plan. Some plans are more comprehensive than others but all should be driven by your overall
business objectives. If not, there’ll be a disconnect in your business and resources will be wasted.
Your business plan should state what your organisational objectives are. These should be S.M.A.R.T
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable [some use Attainable, others Assignable (to a person or dept.) and others Action oriented]
• Realistic (some use Relevant)
• Time bound
Marketing – SMART Objectives
Search “SMART objectives” on Google video. There are many brief tutorials. This one lasts around 4 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uThBb3kGf4k and there’s a decent explanation at http://topachievement.com/smart.html
The embedded Word document is called “10 Steps to SMART objectives”.
The key takeaway is that your business should have a laser focused idea on what it wants to achieve over the length of its
planning horizon.
In addition to marketing, every other functional plan (people, operations, finance et al) should exist to fulfil those
business objectives.
To help with your business planning, have a look at http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas
There’s a 2-min explanatory video there too.
This is 1-pager which tightly focuses attention on the key value and growth drivers of your business
Marketing – a brief note on strategy
Understand the difference between objectives and strategies. Remember the Mount Everest example? The objective is
what we want to achieve. The strategy is how we are going to achieve it. There are a number of tools you can use to help
formulate your marketing strategy.
Tools and techniques (from the CIM)
Ansoff’s matrix (9 min video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AORoMxgp428)
Boston Matrix
Forecasting
Gap analysis
PESTEL
Porter’s Five Forces
SWOT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6NhsoVSD88 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXYI10Po6A&feature=related)
Value chain analysis
Marketing – Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning
Segmentation
We can’t market to everyone on the planet. Even if we could afford to, it’d be wasteful since not everyone would be
interested in our message. So we divide – or segment – the whole market into manageable chunks – chunks that are
relevant to our offer.
In B2B (business to business) marketing, there are a large number of ways in which we can make those divisions. These are
called segmentation variables, some examples of which are geography, industry sector, size of company, public or privately
owned. There are too many to list. You probably already group your customers into segments whether it’s a conscious
decision or not – think about how this is done in your company.
Targeting
As you use segmentation variables, you’ll divide the market into smaller segments. You may be left with several of these
‘segments’. We may have the resources to attack them all at once but do we actually want to do that? Some segments will
be more attractive than others. Rank them according to your own criteria which might be financial or strategic or some
other attribute that makes a market attractive to you. This is targeting. On completion, you’ll have defined your target
market(s). NB: your target market should have similar needs that you can fulfil and you must be able to communicate with
them.
Marketing – Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning
Positioning
So you’ve identified your target market(s). You think you know what they need. So what are you going to offer them and
how are you going to communicate that offer to them? i.e. how are you going to position that offer to your market?
Before you throw resource at this, test your market and your offering on a much smaller scale. Don’t be afraid to tweak the
offering and the message – this is a crucial part of testing the market and will save money in the long run.
Marketing – Planning
In marketing, we talk about the 4Ps of Product, Price, Promotion and Place (the last being a convenient proxy for
distribution – or how you get your product or service to your customer). These date from 1953!
Since the rise of services marketing in the 1980s, another 3Ps have been added – Process, People and Physical.
More recently, Positioning, Packaging and Partnerships have been added though an argument could be made wherein
these would be included in other (existing) Ps.
Together, these form what’s known as the “Marketing Mix” and it is this that makes up the bulk of your marketing plan.
Much of what we do and what you might recognise as ‘marketing’ falls under the Promotion heading since this specifies
how you will communicate with your potential customers. So it includes items such as Direct Selling, Indirect Selling,
Exhibitions, Sponsorship, Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relations, Direct Mail, Social Media and email marketing.
From a marketing perspective, these activities represent the outputs of all the research, analysis and planning that has
gone before. What is actually happening here is that we are using these platforms to communicate (both ways) with our
potential and existing customers – so these activities are collectively known as ‘Marketing Communications” or ‘Marcoms’.
Marketing Communications is itself a planned activity and so has its own “Communications Mix”.
Marketing – Templates
A number of supporting templates are available through the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing). Open the embedded
Excel file. If any would be of use to you, drop a note to [email protected]
One of the these templates covers The Marketing Plan. Open the embedded Word document to see it.
Further help is available…
Practical
½ day workshops via Business Gateway (http://www.bgateway.com/events/)
CeeD Marketing Clinic and LinkedIn Group (http://ceed-scotland.com)
Scottish Enterprise programmes
Only if yours is an “account managed” company. Speak to your account manager where applicable.
Accredited Education
SVQs are offered in Marketing (http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/25254.html)
Chartered Institute of Marketing (http://www.cim.co.uk) for professional qualifications
PostGrad Diploma / Masters programmes from almost any University.
B2B
Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) Criteria? >5 employees, >2 years trading
Funded by the 4 Universities, the West of Scotland KTP Centre (http://www.ktpws.org.uk/) will support you through the
selection of an appropriate KTP partner. Call 0141 548 3733.
Alternatively, you can go directly to your University of choice by contacting...
KTPs: Going direct
https://www.uws.ac.uk/research/partnerships-and-collaborations/knowledge-transfer-partnerships/
Lorraine Dymond: [email protected] and 0141 848 3918
http://www.gcu.ac.uk/business/businessfunding/knowledgetransferpartnerships/
Janette Wark: [email protected] and 0141 331 8877
http://www.gla.ac.uk/businessandinnovation/
Marion Anderson: [email protected] and 0141 330 8671
http://www.strath.ac.uk/businessorganisations/researchservices/ktps/
Linda Wallace: [email protected] and 0141 548 2774
Local Authorities…1
Your Local Authority Economic Development Team may have funding to support a graduate - and other
initiatives - in your business. However, it’s a bit of a geographic lottery.
Summer project work by a student may be an option to consider – Star Refrigeration has used very successfully!
North Lanarkshire Council
Catriona McAuley
Economic Development Manager
[email protected]
01698 302846
South Lanarkshire Council
Eliot Jordan
Economic Development Officer
[email protected]
01698 455135
Christine Gardner
Senior Business Growth Adviser
[email protected]
0141 287 7263
North Ayrshire Council
Matt Strachan
Senior Manager - Business Development
[email protected]
01294 225165
South Ayrshire Council
Calum McPhail
Business Engagement Development Officer
[email protected]
01292 616077
Talk to them. You’re paying for them.
Local Authorities…2
East Ayrshire Council
Sharon Hodgson
Economic Development Manager
[email protected]
01563 503238
East Renfrewshire Council
Lorna Wallace
Economic Development Officer
[email protected]
0141 577 8425
East Dunbartonshire Council:
Fraser Robb
Economic Development Officer
[email protected]
0141 578 8621
Renfrewshire Council
Philippa Simms
Economic Development Officer
[email protected]
0300 300 1180
Inverclyde Council
Will Nisbet
Team Leader – Business Development
[email protected]
01475 715 555
West Dunbartonshire Council
Gillian Scholes
Economic Development Manager
[email protected]
01389 737514
Talk to them. You’re paying for them.