Approach

My Approach to Marketing Problem Solving

Today, much of marketing is focused on marketing communications, especially digital marketing communications. Without doubt, this is a very important aspect of modern marketing, but marketing is far more than just communications. The purpose of a good marketing strategy and an effective marketing plan is very simple. It is to deliver profitable business growth.

Marketing Means More can help your business achieve its objectives.

To be fully effective, marketing always needs to follow a clear and well-defined process consisting of three phases:

DIAGNOSIS

It starts with diagnosing the business issues. This is done by talking to internal stakeholders, but more importantly, by talking to existing and potential customers through research. The prime objective is to allow the “voice of the customer” to be clearly heard and understood, and for this to be the driving force of the business. It is about making sure that the business is truly market-orientated and focused on the customer.

STRATEGY

It then moves on to developing a marketing strategy based on segmentation (how is the market structured, what are the wants and needs), targeting (who should we want to focus on, and who should we not focus on) and positioning (what do we want our brand to mean to them); the so-called “holy trinity” of marketing.

EXECUTION

Once the strategy is defined, the process moves on to tactics and execution, the famous “Four Ps” of marketing:

Product (product or service)
Price
Place (distribution)
Promotion (integrated marketing communications)

The logical sequence of these phases means that tactics without a good marketing strategy are useless, and potentially a complete waste of money. And a good marketing strategy must be based on understanding what your customers think – not what you assume they think, but what they actually think. The acid test for your marketing strategy is the 3C’s: Customer (does your brand offer want your customers want), Company (can you deliver on your brand promise), Competition (can you deliver your brand promise better than any of your competitors).

Importantly, this isn't some "new and improved" approach to marketing consultancy invented by me. This is simply how marketing is done, when done properly.