Effective Enterprise Marketing: System Setup

The secret of effective marketing lies in managing three basic parameters.

The marketing function in modern business is extremely important. Sales management, which is the focus of any business owner and company manager, is closely interconnected with marketing activities. Advertising is just the tip of the marketing iceberg - in a broad sense, it permeates all commercial activity, being a system that integrates various enterprise departments and their functions to align product offerings with market demands. In other words, marketing essentially "fits" the company's product into the market. What should a manager focus on to ensure this key system functions as effectively as possible?

Marketing Analysis as Preparation for Decision Making

As the name implies, marketing is an activity directly related to the market. It ensures the alignment of the enterprise's internal environment with the processes occurring in the external environment, so that the product offering at least matches, and preferably surpasses, competitive offerings. A simple conclusion follows: without market analysis, it is extremely difficult to build a system for making business decisions that will allow the company to function long-term and sustainably, conducting profitable commercial activities.

The issue of developing a competent strategy is always at the center of managerial competencies. But a general strategy cannot be successful if the marketing strategy, whether it is an element of the overall strategy or exists separately, is ineffective.

Owners of small businesses often say that they don't build any strategies but live for today, moving from one specific private decision to another. In reality, this is not the case. Strategy is not necessarily a document. It is a set of certain basic principles upon which the enterprise lives and develops. They can be formalized in writing or exist in the manager's head. There are many options, but in any case, management activity is purposeful, even if the goals are not stated or fully realized. It follows that every organization has a marketing strategy in one form or another. However, its quality can vary greatly.

The biggest mistake and problem is that important management decisions affecting the company's current commercial success and the development of its potential are made under conditions of insufficient prepared information. It is important to note here that market information is always collected in one way or another. Even a market vendor tracks the competitive environment and communicates with suppliers. The question is to make this process as effective as possible given the costs incurred.

For this, it is necessary, at a minimum, to define:

1) the list of data to be collected,

2) the persons responsible / executors for collecting and processing information,

3) the mechanism for applying the processed data for decision-making.

When we conduct marketing analysis, we collect primary and secondary information. On the one hand, there is a lot of information in general. On the other hand, there is little important and relevant information. To correctly extract the main points, quickly collect and process data, marketing research is conducted. If it is implemented without "fieldwork," it is referred to as desk marketing research. Information gathering methods such as territory sensing, interviewing, and surveys characterize the research as field research. In company practice, a combination of these types of research is used. This optimizes costs and yields better results.

When there is an understanding of the list of data important for management decisions, methods for their collection and processing, we move on to defining responsible persons and executors. This is very important, as there must be a match between the complexity of the tasks and the level of qualification of the executors, as well as their number and motivation. In certain cases, it is reasonable to outsource some analytical tasks to specialized marketing agencies.

Internal resources should also be used rationally, considering the workload of employees in other areas. Usually, only in large businesses are there narrow specialists in marketing research and analysis on staff. Not every marketer is capable of independently performing market analysis tasks. Especially if these are markets of foreign countries, not only relatively close ones like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, but also more exotic countries such as the United Arab Emirates or Japan. The alternative, besides outsourcing, here can only be coordinated and competent teamwork, which increases the responsibility of the manager.

But all these efforts will be wasted if the company lacks a mechanism for converting the collected and processed information into specific decisions. In some cases, such mechanisms can operate almost automatically - changes in market prices within specified ranges lead to adjustments in the enterprise's pricing policy, for example. But more often, it is the intellectual work of the organization's management. This does not preclude its systematization. Starting with the fact that reporting containing marketing information should be unified and defined by deadlines / frequency. And management decisions based on it should rely on proven tools of strategic analysis and choice, the same portfolio methods or marketing mix, which remains applicable today.

Sales as the Basic Internal Client

Let's apply the popular concept of the internal client today to formulate the second key area of control for the owner or manager of an enterprise: the department (or departments) that bear direct responsibility for sales should be designated as the basic internal client for all other departments and divisions - production, supply, logistics, financial-economic, and even marketing, if it is separated from sales. The logic here is very simple.

Collected and translated into management decisions, information about the market provides the potential for successful commercial activity. But this is not equivalent to high sales, especially in the short term. In modern conditions, the company's commercial service requires serious efforts to persuade the consumer to choose our product. This is also due to macroeconomic factors. Therefore, internal processes in the company should be structured so that the sales department is the spearhead, supported by all other structures.

Of course, business activity is teamwork, and all roles in it are important. Nevertheless, this does not negate the prioritization of the players in this team, considering the specifics of their roles.

It is desirable to be guided primarily by commercial interests and the growth of sales volume and quality. Communicating this principle to all departments is the responsibility of the enterprise manager. However, this does not mean that we abolish the control system, as well as checks and balances.

Firstly, direct leadership from the company's top person remains, who should not simultaneously head the commercial block.

Secondly, this is why strong marketing is so important, especially its analytical component - quality and up-to-date information about the market will automatically block incorrect decisions by the sales manager, and with the presence of the above-described management decision support system - guide sales in the right direction when working with the market.

Finally, thirdly, marketing and the financial-economic block should prepare sales plans to which the income of the sales department employees is tied. Their justification based on analytics of sales from previous periods and the market situation forms a strong tool for managing the commercial block.

If management has managed to build internal processes so that the horse is placed before the cart, meaning the entire staff, regardless of their area of employment, works for sales and achieving market success, then the last but no less important parameter for tuning the effective marketing system remains.

Ensuring the Growth of Qualifications for the Marketing and Sales Team

The most brilliant plan is implemented by specific people. As is any plan, in principle. Besides the fact that all employees are evaluated from the standpoint of personal competencies and the quality of solving personal tasks, in marketing and sales, the development of so-called emotional intelligence is fundamental. It underlies the skills of communication and teamwork.

On the one hand, there are many job offers from those seeking work in marketing and sales, unlike most technical professions, for example. On the other hand, the choice of qualified employees, and even those with potential for the future, is limited. The higher the quality of workers required, the harder they are to find. Another aspect that an employer evaluates when hiring a salesperson is their business reputation and personal qualities, as leaving and taking the client database means dealing a serious blow to the company. All this leads business owners and managers to the idea that it is desirable to grow personnel independently and develop them, forming internal motives for conquering new heights.

What main tools can be used in this regard? Firstly, educational programs of different levels.

To improve the training of sales specialists, trainings and short-term courses are more often used. Managers and the nearest reserve can study in MBA programs, which provide a systemic understanding of working with the company's external environment, teach strategic thinking, generalization of experience, and its transfer to subordinates.

In the field of marketing, the choice of an educational program depends more on the employee's specialization - whether they are engaged in marketing analysis, design, or SMM; in each case, their own profile of training is needed. Compared to salespeople, marketers more often receive a second higher education at universities.

The second option, which is not widely spread in Russia, is internships and experience exchange between companies. Internships are used limitedly, typically for selecting future employees among university graduates or specialized course graduates (this is popular in internet marketing now, for example). Sending marketers and sales professionals to leading international companies for long-term internships is practically not used, although it gives a powerful impetus for development.

The third direction for improving the qualifications of marketing and sales employees is mentoring or its more modern form - mentoring. Unfortunately, if such a method is found in the field of production activity, in the commercial field it is practically absent. The reasons for this are the low level of corporate culture (which does not contribute to building effective relationships, for example, between a mentor and a mentee), unhealthy competition in sales, which is often supported by the company's manager, the low qualification level of potential mentors, and especially mentors. Overcoming this situation is possible based on the gradual improvement of processes within the company and increasing the level of employees, as well as attracting external consultants (for example, specialized marketing agencies or professional mentors). It is better to use both options.

Furthermore, one can try to find various special programs implemented by both non-profit organizations and state structures. Among the most relevant are the programs of the Russian Export Center, aimed at developing the competencies of specialists within the framework of working with export markets. As an example, the "Export Forsazh" program, within which the team of an organization - a small or medium-sized business entity - simultaneously trains and prepares its export project. The content of "Export Forsazh" includes materials covering various areas of the company's activities within the export project: financial, legal, logistics, etc., but the central place, one way or another, is given to export marketing and interaction with a foreign partner when building a sales system. This once again confirms the above idea about the priority of sales as the internal client of a market-oriented company.

A manager who invests (including personal time) in marketing and sales as a system and a key personnel resource largely solves the task of tuning this system. This allows for increased effectiveness in working with the market and achieving commercial success.