This article seeks to guide people who have some responsibility in the commercial area, around all those aspects that must be considered when establishing marketing strategies consistent with the objectives of competitiveness, profitability, growth and positioning expected by the organization.
objective
A market that faces the power of increasingly stronger competitors and economic and social conditions that are not always the most favorable and where only those companies prepared to take on the commercial challenge that these new conditions impose will survive.
First step: Knowledge of the Company
In the selection process that has led to assuming the responsibility that we have today, it is quite certain that the personal, academic and professional profile of each of us has been taken into account, to the extent that our knowledge, skills and attitudes lead to a series of concrete results:
- Achieve company profitability Show organizational growth indicators Acquire adequate recognition and positioning And obviously achieve a high level of competitiveness
These results, which only occur in the market area, lead to recognizing commercial management as the axis of the company's activities and lead to the other management areas turning according to all aspects related to marketing.
Thus, everything that is produced, goods or services, must be programmed according to the needs and expectations of consumers or users, in volumes and with the characteristics that "marketing" has identified and that "sales" can place in the market.
Likewise, financial and administrative management will revolve around market requirements, as will all actions related to human talent management, now under an approach that emphasizes the organizational structure based on the client, «clienteling» all the vision of the company.
This series of considerations implies having as a starting point an internal and external situational analysis of the organization, given that a series of adjustments must first be registered in it, in order to achieve the response capacity that the different needs and expectations of the market imply.
Second Step: Knowledge and Analysis of Clients
With the organization ready to take on the challenges of the market, a process of customer recognition begins, beginning with current or present customers, with the intention of retaining as many of them as possible, seeking their " loyalty " with tools of relational marketing, prioritizing the "pareto" customers that the company has, but without neglecting the customers that generate the lowest volumes and billing frequencies.
To this end, the potential of the purchasing capacity of this group of clients is also sought, based on the offer of the greatest possible number of goods or services included in the product portfolio and that have not yet been acquired for various reasons.
This group of clients allows some degree of growth in various sales indicators, but it is limited to their number and purchasing power, which is why a second and more important group of clients is used: potential clients. It is with them that the company begins to see real levels of growth in all its indicators and its conquest implies a preliminary work of identification, classification and analysis of its characteristics, consumption habits, purchasing habits, etc. depending on whether they are natural or legal persons.
At this stage, the knowledge we have of the needs and expectations of current clients will facilitate the knowledge of the needs and expectations of potential clients, towards whom various "personalized" strategies will be structured, based on one-to-one marketing techniques., database marketing and all actions and integrated direct marketing tools, that is, telemarketing, direct mail and internet use.
Of course, in this process we will also seek the reconquest of those clients who have been lost due to various circumstances and who will allow us to identify, ultimately, the causes of their temporary or definitive withdrawal, to adopt the appropriate corrective measures..
Here it is important to highlight that the construction, classification, analysis and permanent updating of our clients' databases constitutes a vitally important tool when putting together any marketing, sales and customer service strategy, as well as those corresponding to the portfolio and logistics derived from the commercial agreement.
Step Three: Identification of the Target Micro segments
Given that our clients can be legal entities or natural persons and that these characteristics encompass a number of persons and entities, it is necessary to carry out micro-segmentation processes, that is, processes of selection and homogenization of population segments whose characteristics and behaviors are similar.
For this process it is necessary to establish first which is the "ideal" target population, that is, the one that will be prioritized when guiding the marketing strategies, which will be chosen based on selective criteria associated with homogenizing factors, according to the legal or natural person status.
Thus, for natural persons, the criteria will be gender, age, marital status, family composition, schooling, income level, geographic location, among others, which constitute parameters to differentiate behaviors, attitudes and opinions of each specific segment, facilitating us their description and analysis.
Regarding the micro segmentation process for legal entities, there are criteria such as: capital composition, economic activity, productive sector, productive subsector, geographical location, etc.
In each case, micro segmentation is facilitating the identification of basic characteristics of each micro segment, as well as the possibility of identifying sources of information to establish a primary database and to be able not only to specify the target population, but also to quantify Of the same.
Step Four: What Information Should I Know About the Market?
Although it is true that specifying the micro segments helps in a first approach to know their characteristics, it is necessary to carry out a study of the market in which it is immersed.
This study is approached with a series of questions that must be resolved by the marketing strategist and whose development is the central object of our activity.
The first question that arises corresponds to: what information should I know about the market? and whose response leads us to know the structure of the market.
When answering the question, the first answer that appears corresponds to the need and importance of knowing our potential customers, consumers or users of the goods and / or services offered by the company.
The second answer immediately points to competition as another determining factor in the structure of the market, assuming not only direct competition, but also indirect competitors, who, being interrelated with the other elements of the structure, determine the way in which let's assume the market conditions.
Beside the above, the marketers or intermediaries or distributors appear, with whom the distribution network will be generated.
Simultaneously, suppliers appear, who play an important role in determining the quality of our products and their cost and price structure.
Last but not least, the conditions of the productive sector are mentioned, giving way to all the "macro" analyzes that characterize each specific economic and productive sector.
In this way, the knowledge of the consumers or users, the competition, the marketers, the suppliers and the conditions of the productive sector, will be the elements that we must know enough to be able to define the marketing strategies that concern us so much.
However, it is important to emphasize that the structural characteristics of the market imply the impossibility of modifying the conditions found, leaving the only option to adapt to them, in the best possible way.
Step Five: How do I get the information I need about the market?
It is quite certain that having reviewed how much information we have on the structure of the market, we found that a large part of it is unknown, or that it is outdated or that for some reason it is insufficient and unreliable.
Given this perspective, it is necessary to carry out an investigation of the market in question, in order to complete all the information we require.
Given this dilemma, the first task to be addressed, once the central objective of the research has been determined, will correspond to the consultation of documentary sources, that is, to everything written on topics consistent with the subject matter that interests us.
The first source to consult corresponds to the internal documentary sources, compiling all the information related to statistics, financial reports, minutes, documents, reports, plans and institutional projects and, in short, all possible data within the company.
Based on the previous step, the consultation of external documentary sources will be facilitated, which, due to their union nature, will allow us to broaden the information landscape on the market in which we operate.
External documentary sources also include all publications, articles, essays, research, etc. that are published in books, magazines, newspapers and other printed matter, with special emphasis on all the information that can be accessed on the internet.
Once the previous task is exhausted, it may be necessary to go to direct sources, which will consult different people, in their capacity as consumers or users, competitors, marketers, suppliers or experts in the subject at hand.
To this end, different consultation methods can be used, with an emphasis on quantitative research or, such as direct observation, informal interview, formal interview, remote consultation, direct mail, mail by fax, mail by internet, direct surveys, panels, etc.
In a more advanced process, you can also resort to qualitative techniques, using in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective techniques, etc. that will require the presence of expert analysts in consumer behavior and psychology.
In short, and whatever the mechanics for collecting information, it will be necessary to resort to statistical instruments to determine sample sizes and sampling processes that guarantee the reliability of the research, recognizing that they can be carried out from opinion polls. up to censuses, as required and in accordance with the operational capacity of the company.
Here it is important to indicate that all the data collected must be documented to feed a marketing information system, which will centralize the advanced analyzes, along with the documentary supports collected and built in the investigative process.
Step Six: What do I do with the Information collected?
The information gathered with the market research allows completing the analysis map of the market structure.
This means that at this point in the process, we already have enough information about the market conditions experienced by the micro segments that we are interested in conquering, then the next step will be what to do thanks to the clarity that has been achieved.
The answer is to determine the approach that we are going to give to the marketing strategies, prioritizing the strategies in a mix that will make us more competitive, but above all in the configuration of the strategic units that will constitute the axis of all the actions Marketing and sales within the organization and depending on the external customer.
In this sense, nothing can be left to chance. Everything must be programmed following the guidelines of the marketing variables.
Thus, with respect to the product variable, the portfolio of services that will be offered to the specific segment is determined.
From the price variable, the price escalation follows, understood as a differentiated price range in response to the ability to pay and customer expectations.
The advertising and promotional plan arises from the advertising variable and will also be differentiated from segment to segment, as will happen with the distribution network, associated with the variable square.
At this point, two vitally important strategies emerge that deserve special attention: customer service strategies and internal customer qualification processes.
Today, customer service has become the competitive argument par excellence, given that attention, advice and added values in marketing processes make up a series of comparative advantages and competitive advantages, with which we respond to the campaigns of the competition, generating some differential added value, that makes us be chosen and preferred by consumers.
It is clear that in this competitive game, the internal client plays a leading role that translates into satisfied and motivated external clients to remain faithful to our organization.
Hence, all the efforts made to have a motivated, trained and stimulated work team to give the best possible response to customers, constitutes an intentional action that is part of the marketing strategies that define the company..
Alongside the strategies identified so far, a series of support techniques emerge, equally important and that focus their performance on three important fronts: sales, commercial exhibition and merchandinsing and integrated direct marketing activities.
These eight (8) components of the marketing strategy must appear in one form or another and in their entirety, when structuring the strategic business units.
These units are built by defining specific marketing strategies for each micro segment, based on criteria that recognize that each one of them has a different behavior and expectations, even when facing the same product.
It also assumes that none of the proposed strategies can be ignored, even when the decision taken determines not to make investments for this concept, configuring a series of marketing mixes that will obey more to the reality of the market than to criteria linked exclusively to the product.
The strategic units are built from a product or a product line, for which three to five target micro segments are identified, in turn facilitating the creation of specialized sales forces, product managers, brand managers, customer management and even holding schemes, which make the company potentiate its actions in the market.
Step Seven: How do I implement the decisions made?
Now that we are clear about the actions to follow, recorded in the strategic business units, the concern arises about knowing how to implement those decisions, leading to the construction of the strategic marketing plan.
The plan, like all planning processes, will answer a series of basic questions that will guide its design.
These questions correspond to: what are we going to do ?, for what reason ?, for what ?, how am I going to do it ?, which will include the design part of the plan, while the questions with what are we going to do it, with whom? when? And what results do I expect? they will give floor to the operational part of the plan.
At the time of presenting the final document, a brief recount of the results of the research carried out on the structure of the market should be made, in order to provide an overview of the background of the decisions made.
Once this stage is completed, the design part begins to be presented, corresponding to the "what to do", presenting both the qualitative and quantitative objectives of the plan, while the "why" and "why" will sell the project idea, since they are argument and justification of it.
In this same space, the strategic framework that will guide the marketing plan is disclosed, clearly indicating the vision, mission, values, policies and general strategies that guide the task being undertaken, always in coherence and in accordance with institutional guidelines., which will appear determining its scope.
Now, the backbone will correspond to the "how", since there are described the marketing strategies as well as the support techniques established for each micro segment, under the figure of the strategic units, which in turn will be presented in prioritized way.
Once this stage is completed, the operational part of the plan is presented, which ultimately discloses those responsible for each task, that is, the "with whom", the human, technical and financial resources assigned, to solve the "with what », A schedule of activities that presents the« when »and at the end the achievements to be achieved, that is, the« expected ».
This last point is especially important insofar as the entire process of auditing and controlling the plan follows from its configuration, in order to provide feedback on the results of the plan, once its execution is advanced and, of course, make the adjustments that are required depending on the institutional objectives.
Closing
We consider that the stages presented are the minimum requirement of knowledge about the market that every strategist must have to be able to advance in sales, customer service, portfolio recovery, logistics and distribution tasks, opening new markets nationwide and international etc. which of course will redound to the benefit of the organization and the fulfillment of the objectives initially indicated regarding the profitability, growth, positioning and competitiveness projected by the company.
On the other hand, if the organization does not know the market in which it operates, nor has it structured its marketing strategies obeying the guidelines that it dictates, the chances are that the market itself will point out the mistakes made, opening the way to loss of market share and most likely to the bankruptcy of the organization.
