Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I would not focus on starting a department, but instead focus on where you want to go and how you will do that.

1) determine the goals you want to achieve (often set in how much you want the company to grow, what sales you want to achieve, etc.)
2) determine what marketing looks like it would be most useful to achieving these goals
3) determine what it would take to do that marketing (resource requirements)
4) from this, you will determine what resources you will need to have

Given you are kind of new to marketing, it is likely that you won't be able to do steps 1 and 2 as listed (these are tough for even experts). In that case, you could combine them to one step of "determine the marketing programs hat would be most effective for you."

It is also very likely that the resources you determine in step 4 will be higher than what the company is willing to do - so you need to prioritize what is important.

Hi, Mark,
Welcome to the wonderful career of marketing! First, let’s start by defining what marketing is. Here’s an article from Wikipedia. https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=7912#51170

Then, let’s look at the process a little more concretely. Here’s what NetMBA says is the marketing process: https://www.netmba.com/marketing/process/

Now that we are grounded with the same vocabulary, the first thing you need to do is find out who are your memory company’s customers. Try to segment them – what do they have in common? What memory users aren’t in the list? Find out why they buy your product. You can do this by talking to some of your salesmen. I would suggest going on some sales calls with them too. Memory is a dime-a-dozen commodity…what makes yours special such that a customer would want to buy it? Then, take a look at the competition. How does your product differ from theirs?

Given this information, begin thinking about how you can grow the business. How can you add customers similar to the ones you have already? How can you attract customers from other segments? What are the actions you need to take to get these new customers’ attention – promotions/advertising, selling activities, new products or product changes?

This is where I would start. Hope this helps.

Wayde

Marktameta, I answered this question recently and my answer is still valid -- and, IMO, should be useful for you as well, though it might seem at first more than what you bargained for. Still you need to know it.

The answer to your question is really two-fold:

1-1) What do you need to know and do to establish a credible operating marketing department?
1-2) In what activities should that department engage?

I’d like to tackle the first issue (1-1) – establishing a department. Ultimately, I assume you will need (and should want) to present a marketing plan to your superiors. Why? Because you need their buy-in and you want to showcase your professionalism. The plan should include these sections:
** executive summary (always include a one-to-two page summary for those weary of long reports)
** situation overview (these are your findings and impacts – what you base your recommendations and strategies on)
** recommendations (on the purpose, goals, and responsibilities of the marketing dept.)
** marketing strategy (what is the central strategy – lead generation? Prospect engagement? Loyalty? You should have a primary strategy which individual promotions tools support)
** action plan and timeline
** organization chart and hiring needs (with descriptions)
** budget

To get there, you need to do some investigative research. As a new "manager," you need to learn quickly about three things:
A) what happened in the past
B) what the situation is now
C) what the future direction is

THEN you need to work on these four areas:
1) planning
2) people
3) processes
4) projects


Items 1-4 need to be worked concurrently – and they will take time. Take the info you find out (particularly people’s opinions) with a grain of salt. Listen well, don’t make snap judgments, and be willing to ask why.

So – you’ll be developing a plan using your own expertise and the input of lots of people – take the time to gather this info. BUT DON’T TAKE MONTHS – all this – from start to report -- should be accomplished in 4-5 weeks (unless you’re with a Fortune 500 or 1000 company).

So here’s what 1-4 involve:

PLANNING. In order to plan for the future, you need to quickly learn about the past:

** Company – strategy and goals (get the current year’s set of goals), products and issues, industry status and outlook, org chart, people and linkages, attitude toward marketing, distribution patterns, and overall success, problems, and opportunities as seen by your superiors. And don’t forget SALES – what is the sales process? The typical sales cycle and its length? Find out what Sales wants and needs. You need their input, just as they need your upcoming expertise and direction.

Part of this process is interviewing key execs to find out their views of and needs for marketing. Here’s why: While it’s nice to think that you’ll being creating a “research-to-measurement” marketing organization, you make come to find that all they want is Marcom -- or just a few brochures, a little PR and a Web site! That’s a different department altogether.Find out immediately what the expectations are – don’t assume. And if they don’t know, I guarantee you their budget expectations will clue you in. Be SURE to ask about that so you don’t waste time if the focus is smaller than your dreams.

** Marketing – budgets, past and current projects, successes, and failures. What's happened? You need to go to Accounting and find out about the past marketing "spend" – trade shows, advertising, direct mail, collateral, Web, etc. -- if any. Also, what has marketing done in the past? What’s been done internally vs. outsourced? How was it viewed? Were their any negative experiences you'll need to overcome?

You also need to know what marketing includes – companies slice and dice marketing responsibilities in many ways and you may have less (or more) categories than you think (traditional Marcom, customer support, research, pricing, channel management, etc. Only some of these may fall under you – find out your scope).

** HR. You need to make HR your friend -- you may need to hire some permanent staffers!

** Customers. This is not the time for lengthy research. What you want to know and assess is the general status of customer satisfaction, whether market share growing, are there repetitive problems, is customer research a priority, how the market is segmented, what research is gathered and how, etc. What does this company know about its customers – and if they market through a channel, what is the relationship with their channel partners?

PEOPLE. You need to learn about existing people relationships, who you need to work with and gain the support of, and how people are inclined to marketing [just production and tactical (promotions delivery) or strategic, research and recommendation oriented?]. What do they believe marketing is – and what value do they think it can add? You may have a lot of educating to do in order to get the support (and budget) you need or want.

PROCESSES. What processes are in place to which you need to adhere (finance, budgeting, strategic planning, hiring, approval, POs, etc.)? How much authority do you have? Who is the KDM for you – the key decision maker? Find out so you aren’t roadblocked (or embarrassed) later.

PROJECTS. What’s going on now? What’s at the top of the list and needs triage? Take these projects and prioritize them. Later after all your data gathering, you’ll have the opportunity to rearrange, change, delete, and add to it. Right now, I bet there are things going on. Find out what they are and take steps to take charge of them in an expert fashion.


With this information, you should have what you need to (1) analyze the situation and the impacts of it, and (2) create a list of recommendations for a department, including its purpose, responsibilities/scope (which will drive your hiring), goals, and organization.

From that you can go on to item 1-2 -- In what activities should that department engage?

These are covered by the functional strategy, action plan, and budget you will carefully and thoughtfully develop – again, from the info your gather and the application of your marketing expertise (and counsel of outside experts, if needed).

Your company sounds like a solid B2B selling subassembly components. So should you focus on customer loyalty programs? Is there a need for building awareness and image? And what do these strategies require in terms of promotions – maybe PR and channel programs? You won’t know until you gather the data and determine the right primary strategy to connect with your target audience.

Yes, this may seem overwhelming, but brand new or a seasoned professional, you need to gather and rely on past information to create a good department, strategy, and implementation plan with success.

Remember, you are now both a marketer and a manager – best of luck.

PS – Go to amazon.com and look up the book “Just Promoted” by E. Betof and F. Harwood. It’s been around for a long time – still good, and the page lists other books on effective management for new managers.