Each company has marketing habits that it develops in its company every time it has to achieve a goal even if it is not programmed in a plan. For example, when the billing for the month is weak and customers are called by phone, when resellers approach and work in an uncovered geographic area, when magazines in the industry contact us to publish, etc.
When I ask companies that advise what marketing habits they develop, they are always oriented towards communication, dissemination, advertising and image, taking into account the confusion that marketing is synonymous with advertising. Even so, these actions are not framed within a plan, nor is the impact of their results measured or whether they are positive or negative.
This is why it is very important that the company follows a marketing plan that supports and accompanies the business management project, that is, according to the business vision.
Some examples of the actions that must always be followed, and in a constant way, (for this I recommend an electronic Outlook office-type agenda or one that can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet that gives periodic notice of each action), * On the 5th of each month make some modification to the web.
* Quarterly review the pricing strategy based on costs, competition and customer perception of the value for money.
* Every six months check the circulation of the magazines where it is published and recognize if it reaches the final consumer or the intermediary, create new publications.
* Bi-monthly tours of the points of sale.
* Every X deadline investigate what the competition is doing.
All these actions are always focused on not forgetting the 4 p's of marketing, so I develop the themes and actions that must be taken as habits so as not to lose the habit of always doing them and thus optimize arrival in potential markets.
Some tips to continue framed in the 4P's.
Communication
The web is a fundamental persuasion tool that has the advantage that the user is going to look for us, contact and mainly interest comes from outside to the company. The way to achieve this is to constantly update or make changes and marketing actions on the web and “communicate” the updates in the form of emailing actions.
Examples: product testing program, product quality testing programs, proposal for factory visits, promotions, etc.
Direct communication actions vs. advertising
Why do I frame a rivalry between these two concepts? The theme is that SMEs have limited financial resources to invest in broadcasting and the best known (in addition to calling us, telling us how and when to publish), is the magazine of the sector or the common mass media of the activity most related to business. The first mistake that is made is that if the company is in the metallurgical sector but builds materials for construction, it will be throwing money away if it invests in magazines in the metallurgical sector and also takes the risk of alerting some competitor, in this case the ideal It would be magazines aimed at the builder.
However, the proposal is direct communication, with less scope but much more effective. For the same cost of publishing in a magazine, you can have a newly started seller who personally visits the areas, who distributes product samples and mainly who collects information, you cannot know the return of the reader's opinion through a publication in a magazine.
Image, packaging and exhibition of products
Every three or six months the image of the products should be reviewed.
Renew the image of the packaging so that it is of better quality or a better way to access and understand the product by displaying it at the point of sale, you can also relaunch a product by changing the image.
I can certainly confirm that most of the products that fail in large stores are because they are poorly displayed. Or they display them in the wrong places or in a confusing way such that the consumer prefers not to risk buying it, then looks for it in a smaller store and perhaps the product is not there, the purchase process is frustrated.
The only way not to make these mistakes is to put yourself in the buyer's place, go to the store and observe the attitude of the buyer, I have observed people 20 minutes in front of a gondola without buying anything, because they do not understand anything. Even asking ordinary people how they would buy the product, how it should be displayed so that it is clear and easy to buy.
Marketing channels
Geographical expansion in the marketing channels
When a product stagnates in the growth of its sales, the possibility of a geographical expansion should be analyzed, this expansion does not always require a large investment, nowadays with the advancement of technology it is much more within the possibilities of entrepreneurs. However, the culture of each place is essential and then carry out explorations, that is, field work in the old error testing system. If it is possible to go to the selected places and start looking for possible distributors or meet contacts through the Internet of marketing channels that may be interested in incorporating new suppliers or new products.
Boost to marketing channels
Another review that should be sporadically prescribed is the boost to the marketing channels that the company has, some distributors are excited about new exhibitors that will be distributed at the points of sale and this simple action generates better sales results, from the final consumer to the point of sale, from the point of sale to the distributor and finally from the distributor to the company.
Price
Setting the price
Price is a very important issue for entrepreneurs because of course it guides the outcome of the business, that is, whether the business serves or not.
Pricing should be based on many aspects, but mainly based on competition and with the consumer in mind, quite the opposite of cost pricing + expected or desired margin.
In this regard, it should be made as a habit to constantly check the prices of the competitors, if the competitor improves his production process and lowers the price, he will displace us from the business quickly.
Once the price strategy review is carried out and a path to follow is determined, depending on the macroeconomic situation, it should not be changed or retouched until the next review. Although the price is a flexible factor, it is very possible that if the pricing strategy is not clear and defined, we will have problems with the different marketing channels because they reach the final consumer with more or less advantage. For this reason, it is essential to clearly guide discounts to different channels.
Promotion actions
Another action to follow is the promotions program, many times if the products are seasonal, the company can anticipate the competition and before the consumption period launch communications with a price promotion strategy and thus win the market. So set a marketing habit and every year perform the same or a similar action, always one step ahead of the competition.
Product
Product strategy
The product strategy must always be based on the moment of the life cycle that the product is going through, but as it evolves and changes, we must change the marketing strategy. So it is important to have the habit of reviewing if the product is at launch and changes to the period of greatest growth, then it will be necessary to determine the commercial actions that drive to achieve the greatest growth and sustained over time.
Market research
Another habit that can be acquired is that of market research, often feared by companies because if they are carried out by specialized companies, they are very expensive, if we talk about statistics and probabilities, not everyone understands. However, sniffing the market is doing market research. A small round of visits to the final points of sale to see how the final consumer moves, the search for indices that determine the movements of the company's sectors of interest.
Customer loyalty
A more complex but no less effective activity is the measurement of customer satisfaction, which will result in the improvement of the products, but the most important thing is to measure customer loyalty. The greater the satisfaction, the greater the fidelity, the less possibility that they will change the product for the competition.
With a satisfaction survey that can be sent once a year where it only takes three minutes to answer on a scale of one to five (from dissatisfied to very satisfied) a series of questions that help us determine the aspects that work very well and the that we must improve, fidelity can be measured successfully.
