A point of view on codifying marketing essentials

Marketing has traditionally been a somewhat esoteric function whose quantifiable contribution to revenue and profit has been questioned repeatedly, and clear, attributable answers are often missing. This, in turn, has resulted in two phenomena – First, business leaders have often been unsure about what exactly marketing delivers to the P&L. Evidence of this can be seen in many boardrooms globally, where marketing either has a muted, or no presence. Second, this lack of objectivity and measurability has caused marketers to lack the confidence to stand by their choices and build predictability behind their actions.

With significant marketing investments going digital, a plethora of tools that aid measurability and analytics are available now, which help clear at least some of that mist. Here’s a point of view that brings the various disciplines within marketing together, cuts the fluff, codifies the essentials, and builds in the objectivity that will give marketers the confidence, and marketing the credibility as genuine partners who drive growth and profits, and not just creatives and ?campaigns that add to expenses without a known return.

Here’s a framework that will be useful for marketers to consider and make the right choices -

?I. What are the broad objectives of marketing?

Essentially, four things –

#1. Acquire new customers. This is important to future proof the business, i.e., IF current non / fringe consumers were to begin consumption, it would drive future growth.

#2. Increase share of repertoire of existing customers. This is important to drive current (and future) ?growth, protect / gain share, and beat competition.

#3. Grow awareness and affinity amongst the above two sets. This is important to create brand differentiation and competitive advantage, and ensure the business in relatively insulated from competitive threats or cyclical fluctuations.

#4. Define sharp KPIs for each of the above, to measure, learn from, and optimize in a perpetual learning loop. This lends tremendous trust, credibility, transparency and accountability for the choices made. I would suggest that significant effort be spent in defining these KPIs basis the first three objectives, as these will guide what needs to be done, what is working and what needs improvement. A few considerations here, depending on the type of business, would be attribution, funnel performance, CTR (or relevant equivalent), A/B Tests, control groups, engagement, metrices to measure conversion, consumption and equity, media choices, etc.

II. What are the key questions to consider while defining the objectives?

I will use consumer and customer below interchangeably for simplicity - The two may be different.

I call the key questions as the W3-H2 –

(i) Who? – Who is the current consumer, and who is likely to be one (if certain actions were taken)?

(ii) What? – What is the value being created / offered for both these sets of consumers?

(iii) Where? – Where in the value chain is the value being created? (product specs, production, logistics, distribution, packaging, price, brand positioning, etc)

(iv) How? – How will this value be captured by the business?

(v) How? – How will the value be delivered to and / or shared with the consumer?

III. Once the above have been answered robustly, and there is broad consensus within the business on these answers, marketers will need to answer the next 2 key questions –

#1. How will the identified sets of consumers search for the product or service? Considerations to both the physical and the digital worlds will come into play here.

#2. Once they search (and find) it, what should they infer from it? The greater the clarity a marketer has on the questions in Sections I and II above, the more powerfully will s/he will be able to answer this question. What inferences would be overt and which ones (if any), subliminal?

IV. Focus on THE 2 key drivers of brand growth. Period.

There is tremendous work done by Professor @ByronSharp at the @EhrenbergBassInstitute that really cuts to the chase. To grow a brand, marketers need to single-mindedly focus on just 2 things - Anything else is probably a distraction.

#1. Physical availability – Where can the consumer purchase your product? Here “physical” does not imply the channel (brick and mortar), but wherever the product can be purchased.

There may be a suite of relevant considerations here –

Route to Market – What will be the optimum channel or distribution to ensure the widest (optimum) availability of the product.

Distribution – What SKUs / assortment / portfolio to be stocked in what quantity in which channel.

?Presence – What will be the level of visibility and merchandising in each distributed channel.

Margins – Basis the value sharing analysis, what will be the margins and value or surplus to all stakeholders, i.e., the business, the channel partners and the consumer.

Others – Category management, promotions, packaging, pricing, etc.

#2. Mental availability – Is the brand on top of the consideration set of the consumer whenever a consumption / purchase occasion arises?

Relevant considerations here –

What….will the message be? (Emotional / Functional, based on what are the choices made around ?category entry points). The conversations here will involve content, creative, UX, execution.

Where……will the message be most visible to the consumer? What are the relevant contact points and which ones would be the most efficient set to select?

How….will the message reach the consumer? What media, merchandising and presence choices need to be ?made basis the optimum contact points? The choices here will be on search, social, display, video, native advertising, influencers, advocacy / referrals, TV, print, OOH, radio, events, experiential, PR, merchandising, etc.

Others….Are there any network effects in play? Can they be included / strengthened?

The best choices that drive physical and mental availability, will depend on how well the questions in sections II and III have been answered.

With these essentials in place, an effective superstructure would be ready, upon which a marketer can use his / her ingenuity and creativity to actively unlock growth, drive profits and be confident of the choices made.