Marketing’s primary mission

Marketing's Primary Mission!

A business strategy that drives profitable and sustainable growth for the enterprise is the primary mission for Marketing.

Look around. How much true innovation do you see coming from your industry? How much is just plain copying the leader or extending present product ideas? Soft differentiation relegates your firm to a strategy that makes price and cost reduction programs the main focus of the business. The problem with this thinking is that it's not thinking. Peter Drucker, renowned business guru, stated that enterprises are developed to generate wealth, not control costs!

Pricing and cost reduction efforts should be a part of a normal business operation, not the driving strategy. Whether you are making aspirin or providing leading-edge technology such as wireless products -- differentiation is key and without it your company will ultimately fail.

Early on in my career I heard that Marketing is as simple as finding a building that is about to fall over and leaning on it. This marketing metaphor may have some merit, but throughout my 30+ years in the industrial automation business, I rarely found a building (to wit a ready market that my company could easily exploit) about to fall. Rather, I found hunting for additional business a daunting task in an ever-more competitive market.

Ever wonder why some companies seem to be more successful than others are. Why do some companies flourish even in tough economical times? Successful companies have traits, attributes and disciplined habits in the way in which they approach their customers, and competitors. These companies attract risk-takers and indoctrinate their people to constantly innovate these key areas --

► Customer focus - successful companies have a maniacal obsession when dealing with their customers. They seek ways to add more support, at less costs, with higher quality and at a faster response time than they did last year, last quarter and even last month. They look for ways to innovate their interface with the customer while stalling awaiting competitors. These companies clearly understand that building a strong tie with your intended customer is the best path towards sustainable success.

► Sales channel development - a winning channel strategy is the hallmark of any successful business. Successful companies pay acute attention to their customer needs by identifying, motivating and rewarding a sales channel that works hard on customer relationships. These companies recognize that a multiple channels-to-market sales strategy provides the best coverage and drives market leadership.

► Offer a unique selling position - finding a unique selling proposition (USP) is job one within companies that are constantly successful. These companies enunciate, focus and bang away at their unique selling proposition and ultimately gain market share, keep customer confusion to a minimum, and frighten their direct competitors. These companies rarely bring a me-too product or service to market. They utilize leading-edge technology and innovative ideas to pressure the market competition while providing unparalleled value to their customers.

► First-hand competitive knowledge - successful firms know and understand the strengths as well as weak areas of their direct competitors. They constantly seek competitive intelligence and apply it to their on-going marketing and sales tactics.

► Maximum enterprise agility and flexibility - successful firms recognize that change is inevitable. Developing the right ‘muscles' within an organization to allow a large degree of flexibility is essential in today's fiercely competitive landscape. Firms with the vision to understand that it does no good for a business to recognize a change, while not having the agility to respond, will always retain the best opportunity to gain significant market share and experience enviable leadership.

Audit your organization. How many of the above points is not only apparent, but at hard work within your company? How successful do you want to be? Think about it.