Some leaders struggle to establish a direct line of sight between what marketing does every day and their organization’s growth. As leaders, you want to be assured marketing will deliver growth.
When leaders ask their team, “What compromises marketing?” the answers are always different. Too often, those answers are guided by a company’s internal definition of marketing that is determined by the shiny new tool of the day.
So, what should you expect of marketing?
The Components of Successful Marketing
What It Takes for Marketing to Deliver Growth
In many cases, marketing roles are farmed out to experts who specialize in specific aspects of marketing. While the internal marketing leader engages the external resource for their specific expertise, focus on the primary business goal—profitable revenue—is lost.
To maximize the benefits of a well thought-out and executed marketing strategy, someone must assume the leadership role to integrate the following marketing tasks:
Identifying and characterizing relevant markets/customers and determining their needs and values, by accessible segment
Designing the total offering (product and services) for each distinct market segment. This offering must be differentiated from competitive offers
Establishing the value for each offering (pricing strategy) based on a comprehensive understanding of the substantial market segment and the value dynamic of the most likely alternative
Creating a clear, actionable plan for how the offering will be delivered to each stable segment and what the impact will be on the business
Communicating the offering in a way that both promotes a positive market response and builds a “brand” preference that can be expanded across other markets
Taking the lead in communicating internally to build a common understanding and support infrastructure that leads to a positive change in the business’s capabilities and internal value for the brand
Are these tasks the focus of your marketing function? How do you measure to reward your marketers’ execution of each of these tasks? Leave a comment and let us know.
