In the second of this occasional series, Guy Tomlinson and Tim Arnold, marketing consultants, directors and authors of The Marketing Director’s Handbook outline some of the prerequisites to be a successful marketing director.

 

Within any business different functions deal with different, yet clearly defined areas such as a financial management, information technology and human resources. The marketer is different in seeking to understand the customer, understanding WHY he or she buys and interpreting this understanding so that it can be used to influence all aspects of a business.

 

Having worked with many organisations, no matter how sophisticated they might seem on the outside, it’s amazing how many lack a customer orientation. Yet the most successful businesses in the world are customer driven. It’s also amazing how so many people in so many organisations fail to grasp the basic concept of marketing. They don’t understand and put the needs of customers first. Whether some of these people are in your own team, on the board or in different functions, the marketer should never underestimate the need be a ‘disciple’ of marketing. 

 

This means advocating thinking from a customer point of view and putting the customer at the heart of decision making. Part of your job must involve helping colleagues grasp the concept and benefits of marketing and help them realise that it simply involves understanding customers and optimising products or services to meet customer’s needs. Another part of your job must involve helping them understand your own customers and embrace and act on what they have learned.

 

To understand your own customers it is vital to go beyond demographics to more nuanced needs and drivers as well as attitudes and behaviours. It is also important to understand what’s going on both overall and online as well as WHY customers do what they do. You will want to segment and target and create recognisable personalities around your segments. Above all resist the temptation to put all your resources into new customers, the richest vein is your current customer base. Keeping them and getting them to buy more, more often must be your core objective (especially in these recessionary times).

 

You will achieve this by really understanding the customer ‘journey’ for your product.  What drives them to purchase and use it, what are barriers and what part does the brand play? Also look at how the customer behaves online not simply in isolation – this will help you reveal new opportunities to build brand awareness and drive sales though this medium.

 

Seek new insight into customer behaviour and how the market works as this will be the key to growth or in times of recession, to sales stability. And as insights can come from anywhere you should look in many places and look at customers in different ways in order to reveal them.

 

In Part 3 we’ll discuss the importance of building a knowledge bank and establishing early warning radar.

 

The Marketing Director’s Handbook has been acclaimed as a book that all directors should read and that all marketing directors should keep close to hand. To find our more and order a copy follow this link to The Marketing Directors’ consultancy website. (link to www.themarketingdirectors.co.uk/the_marketing_directors_handbook.htm)