Major Marketing Weaknesses

Deadly Sin; The company's marketing planning process is deficient.

Signs;

The marveling plan ipima! does no! have lhe right components, there is no way to estimate the linancia 1 indications 0! dilterent strategies, there is 110 contingency planning Sotutions:

Establish a standard formal including situational analysis, SWOT, major issues, objects, slraiegy. ladies, budgets, ana controls; ask marketers what changes Uicy would make if the; were given 20 perCent more or less Itudgei; ran an annual marketing a.vartfs program witli prizes for test plans and perfotmanoe.

Deadly Sin: Product and service policies need tightening.

Sj'gns; Too man/ producís and many are losing money. me company is giving away K» many services. ;he company is poor al cross-selling producís ana services.

Solutions: Establish a system id (rack weak products and fix or drop litem, offct and price services at different levels, improve processes fot cross-selling and upsellmg.

Deadly Sin;The company's brand-building and communications skills aro weak.

Srgni; The targel markel docs not know much about the company, the brand IS not seen as ftflhetive, fftt company allocates its Sudgei to lhe same marveling tools in abou: the same proper Lion eacfi year, there is lime evaluation of the ROt impact of promolions.

Solutions;

improve Lirarirl-buiidmg strategies and measurement of results. sJiBt money into effective marketing instruments. require marketers to estimate the RCI impact in advance of lending requests.

Deadly Sin: The company is not organized for effective and efficient marketing.

Srgns: Staff Fjcks Iwenly-llrst-cenlury marketing skills, had vibes between mathpJing/salfes and other department Solutions; AppOinl a strong leader and hi.-ln new Sldlg in :tté man keiinrj department, improve relationships between marketing antf other depatmems.

Deadly Sin: The company has not made maximum use of technology.

Signs; Minimal use of the Internet, outdated sales automation system, no market automation, no decision-support models, no raatket-ir:g riasfiboaros.

Solutions; Use the Her net more. Improve Uie sates automatic.-system, apply market aulomalion to routine decisions, develop (ormal marketing decision models ana marfofing dashboaras.

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1. The modem marketing department has evolved through the years from a simple sales department tu an organizational struct uro where marketing personnel work mainly on cross-disciplinary teams.

2. Modern marketing departments can he organized in a number of ways. Some companies are organized liy Functional specialization, while others Foctis on geography and regionali/ation. Süll ruber« emphasise product and brand management <ir market-segment man agement. Some companies establish a matrix Organization consisting of both product and market managers. Finally, some companies have strong corporate marketing, others have limited corporate marketing, and siill others place marketing only in the divisions.

3. I'ffcctive modem marketing organisations arc mafked by a strong cooperation and customer focus among the company's depart men is: marke ling. R&D, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, operations, finance, accounting, and credit.

-i, Companies must practice social responsibility through their legal, ethical, and social words and actions. Cause marketing can bo a means for companies to productively link social responsibility to consumer marketing programs, Social marketing is done by a nonprofit or government Organization to directly address a social problem or cause.

A brilliant strategic marketing plan cordis fur lit de if it is run implemented properly, implementing markciing plans calls for skills in recognizing and diagnosing it problem, assessing the company level where the problem exists, Implementation skills, ami skills in evaluating ihe results.

6. T he marketing department lias lo monitor and control marketing activities continuuusly. Efficiency control focuses on finding ways to increase the efficiency of the sales force, advertising, sales promotion, arid distribution Strategic control entails U periodic reassessment Of the Company and its strategic approach to ilie marketplace using the tools of the marketing elTectivenass and marketing excellence reviews, a* well as the marketing audit.

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