“You will learn more by emulating successful ideas from outside your industry than by copying what your nearest competitor is doing.”
-David Scott Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR
It is natural to focus on industry competitors when developing a marketing strategy. When was the last time you tried something really different in your industry? Maybe its about time!
When facilitating strategic market planning sessions, I have found that the macro-environment analysis segment can bog down. This is where demographic, economic, technology, lifestyle, regulatory, and political trends are and examined. There is a lot that can get group discussions out in the weeds, and away from areas that will really impact the business.
To guide these conversations, I use two simple prompts for each area:
1) What is changing?
2) How do we take advantage of this change?
This help to keep the focus on factors that can have a major impact on the business, Give it a try.
The current recession is forcing many firms to reasses traditional business processes and approaches. One area that is well suited for change is the traditional marketing department.
B2B marketing used to be relatively predicable activities-direct mail, print advertising and events/tradeshows. Metrics on marketing ROI were relatively soft. The internet had opened up many more channels to reach your client and gain valuable information from a two way dialog. This requires new tools, new approaches, and a constant rebalancing of the marketing mix.
Does your company have a strategy and marketing mix in place to capitilize on these new opportunities? Does your company have the right skills on board to meet these challenges? Can you add permanent staff in this current environment? Does the variety of tools needed with these new channels justify full time staff in some of these specialty areas? Are you structured to take advantage of the coming recovery?
Large consulting firms provide sophisticated solutions for top dollar, often delegating much of the work to inexperienced MBA’s with little hands on business experience. Luckily, the same technologies that are driving these changes are cost effective ways for businesses of all sizes to compete in this new environment-and without necessarily adding permanent staff to accomplish these objectives.
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