DESTINYCONNECT - The Art of Successful Marketing Management

Terri Brown

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The Art of Successful Marketing Management

Print | Posted by Terri Brown on 08 February 2010 @ 10:07 AM

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The concept of “marketing management” might seem quite foreign to small business owners and entrepreneurs alike. Herewith some insights into how to ‘manage’ a market…

Marketing management - a definition

Marketing Management is the art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them. The marketing manager’s aim is to find, attract, keep, and grow target customers by analysing consumer markets and identifying consumer needs. Once needs are identified, the marketing manager should turn intelligence into action – thereby transforming information into strategic planning and external communications.

Goal setting provides direction

Setting marketing goals will provide greater direction in terms of the action required. A goal is an objective that the company would like to reach. Typical marketing goals might be:

- Creating higher awareness of your product
- Generating more sales
- Building a brand

The most important aspect of setting marketing goals, as with any other objective is that it should be:

a) Realistic
b) Measurable
c) Have a deadline

Even though most companies are profit driven, marketing goals do not always have to revolve around making more money. Brand awareness and recognition in the market might also be factors to consider as this creates credibility for your company in the marketplace and makes usage more likely.

More about management decision-making

When making management decisions, two major considerations come into play: the ability to recognise the area of concern and following that the ability to take appropriate action. Managers often tend to ignore pertinent problem areas in their business.

Typical marketing problems might include:

Not knowing who your target market is
Failing to reach your target market through communications efforts
Low awareness of your offer in the market
Declining sales
Not knowing what your customers really want
Not having a communications strategy

The first step of management decision-making is acknowledging the fact that there is a problem. Then break down the problem into smaller details and decide how the problem should be addressed. In making this decision it is key to have access to relevant and information that will assist in accurate decision-making.

The ‘mix’

The four marketing principles commonly known as the four P’s will have an influence on how you manage and approach your market. This involves the dynamic nature of the interaction between the following variables:

Product
Price
Place (distribution)
Promotion

A fifth element, packaging, will sometimes also come into play. It is crucial to be aware of how changing one element in ‘the mix’ can have an influence on how you market your product.

Tips on managing your market

As time goes by your market is liable to change. With the introduction of competitor offers your market might start migrating or a change in marital status might change their needs. Your marketing activities should always be based on what it is that your market is dictating to you. Keeping your ear to the ground, setting realistic goals and making informed decisions based on market knowledge is what it is all about. Marketing managers should strive to build customer relationships by getting to understand – really understand- what their market is all about.

Please add 4 and 2 and type the answer here:

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# re: The Art of Successful Marketing Management The Fly In The Ointment…Records In Chaos

Quite often and rightfully so, as SMMEs we emphasize markets as the principal determinant of our business success. It has since emerged that whilst a good market base can get you into business; It is good record keeping that will keep you there. For the past few years, there has been programmes aimed primarily at SMMEs,

With major emphasis on the micro and informal sector: the street vendors, youth and women groups, arts and craft businesses, and many more. Quite frankly this is an exciting time for the long-suffering informal sector and we believe that their fortunes will improve. They will in the short-term, but the long-term success can only be guaranteed if they can up their record keeping and information management. As a business coach and SMME mentor, we tend to emphasize record keeping for purposes of tracking profitability and to be honest a great majority of SMMEs are too busy with other 'important' business factors to buy this and that. If market is the business ignition, record keeping is the backbone and it is so powerful that without its proper management, the business will surely die a sudden death. Key to its critical role is in the tendering system. Government quotation system (i.e. the lowest entry to government procurement) requires that you attach a Tax Clearance Certificate, VAT registration if you have it. For the first year of procurement, one can get a Tax Clearance easily, but for subsequent years, it will require proper processing of tax returns and this is where record keeping becomes extremely important. How then do you present proper financials when your records are not properly kept? In addition, a great number of SMMEs have registered for VAT and have difficulty getting proper VAT clearance. This is not so much that SMMEs cheat on tax. NO. They are not able to defend whatever position they present to the taxman because the records are just not there to substantiate their claims. Without proper clearance it becomes extremely difficult to participate further in the tendering system. In addition, there is a challenge with revenue leakages. Because of chaotic record keeping, some debtors escape without paying the SMMEs as there are no proper records to enable them to track the debtors and recover all their monies from those clients who bought on credit. As an SMME you may find yourself very busy chasing after tenders and opportunities. This is particularly so because opportunities have a window after which if not realized the window of opportunity can close on you. When records are not efficiently kept, over time, some of the unpaid invoices just fall through the cracks and get easily forgotten. These are key issues as an SMME. Those unmanaged records, no matter how small they may be, they have the capacity to tarnish your brand, destroy relationships with suppliers and compromise the trust of your client base. The financial costs are major as to pay off the debt or at worst to overturn the writ of execution will now include both exorbitant legal fees and/or loss of credit credibility. Unless record keeping is cleaned up, SMMEs will continue to crush and no amount of government empowerment through the tendering system can keep them afloat. It now calls for a certain level of maturity in the way we run our businesses, there has to be balance in the passionate drive for markets, balanced with systems and record keeping in order realizing value from the revenue we generate. I, therefore, urge the SMMEs to take advantage of capacity programmes such as those offered by SEDA, IDC, and FNB Women in Business, Destiny Connect Mentoring etc and similar organizations to set their internal controls in order, set up systems, organize their records and get their compliance in order. bbolele@yahoo.com" bbolele@yahoo.com BY BOI BOLELE

Posted by boitshepob on 11 February 2010 @ 08:41PM

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