Why Marketing Should Take the Initiative

If you keep your ears tuned to the grapevine, you’ve probably heard one of the following statements floating around your company. Rather than turn a stone ear and risk a reactionary knee-jerk response from upper management, here’s how marketing should answer.

“We are in a price war.”

Price wars are all too common these days. Usually, a price war arises when customers of a particular industry can’t determine why one company offers a better product or service than any of its competitors. So the customer defaults to the one decision criteria they can easily understand – lowest price.

In the race for the lowest price, every company cuts their prices, squeezes their margins, and hurts their profitability. With so many brands clamoring for customer attention, companies are finding it more and more difficult to differentiate themselves from the competition.

That’s where branding can help. Leveraging customer research, you can make fact-based determinations of brand benefits to identify what makes your product or service different and better than the competition, and how you can best communicate those benefits. The result to your company is more sales at higher margins – and a brand position that isn’t based on being the cheapest.

“We are facing new competitors.”

Even the regulated utility markets are facing new competition. Holding onto to market share and revenue becomes more difficult as competition starts coming after your customers. But your toughest competitors are the ones that you don’t even know about. New competitors can also arise to threaten your “share of wallet” with your target customers.

To handle these new competitive threats, you must not only identify where the biggest competitive threats are and how to position your company effectively against them, but also be careful in selecting the right language and programs to drive your target customers away from the competition and to your door.

“We need to have more people outside the marketing department thinking like marketers.”

If you understand this, you’re ahead of the pack. Marketing extends to all areas of your company, from finance, to HR to operations, sales and even IT. It is critical that these groups understand their role as marketers because your brand is the sum of every experience your customers have with your company or your product. Marketing is too important to be left just to the marketing department.

Your brand is critical – as the container for all of your customer interactions with your company, it’s the heart and soul of your company. Brands are being challenged more than ever in today’s business environment. With so many brands clamoring for the customer’s attention, companies are finding it more and more difficult to differentiate themselves from competitors, which leads to loss of market-share and revenues.

Everything your company says and does (or doesn’t say and do) communicates to your customers. This communication comes in many forms: from the way the customer service rep answers the phone to the type of messages on your billboards to the demeanor of your front desk receptionist.

“Our sales are dropping.”

Lower sales can be a symptom of many marketing problems. One main cause of a sales decrease is that your brand is not connecting with customers the way it used to. When this happens, your brand loses the power to drive customers to think, feel, and act the way you want them to. So they stop buying your product or service.

Other causes include: a company outside of your normal competitive frame is capturing some of your customers’ share of wallet. Or your direct competitors have positioned your brand in an unfavorable light. Or you’ve lost focus on your core customers while chasing after non-users. Or dozens of other different reasons.

To determine the causes, you need to examine the situation and determine the root cause of the sales drop and what go-to-market strategies and tactics will drive increased revenues and profitability. A comprehensive review will include who you are targeting, who you are competing against (often, it’s not whom you think), how your brand is positioned, and what comprises your brand experience to determine where opportunities exist to improve sales.

“Our business isn’t growing fast enough.”

Many companies have traditionally grown sales through acquisitions, new product launches, line extensions or other approaches that can cannibalize existing businesses, take years to pay off, and put precious capital at high risk. There is a better way to grow – using your existing assets and capabilities to drive organic growth through renovating your marketing approach.

Marketing renovation means taking a fresh look at what you are already doing, and figuring out how to do it much better. Outside marketing consultants can help provide a fresh perspective on your marketing approach, looking for ways to drive growth in your business by re-examining your customer segmentation, your competitive frame, your brand positioning and brand experience. A full-scale review of your marketing mentality and approach should identify improvement opportunities that will result in significant growth of revenues and profits.

“We don’t have a marketing problem.”

When you don’t think (or realize) you have a problem, you are most vulnerable to competition. Your competitors can smell an opportunity to close in on your customers if you aren’t paying close attention. To stay sharp, you need fresh eyes, new ideas and the latest approaches and marketing skills. Here are seven statements which often show that your marketing department is in a rut:

• “We know our brand, inside and out.”
• "Our processes are so well tuned, our company seems to run itself.”
• "If it ain’t broke, we don’t fix it.”
• "We’ve carved out a unique position in the marketplace.”
• “We know what needs to be done.”
• “We will never relinquish our core competency.”
• “What made us successful will keep us successful.”