November 2010

Marketing for Businesses By Jim Gehrlein

Jim Gehrlein

Strategic planning is concerned about the overall direction of the business. It is also concerned with marketing, of course. But it involves decision-making about production and operation, finance, human resource management and other business issues. The object of a strategic plan is to set the direction of a business and create its shape so that the products and services it provides meet the overall business objectives.

Marketing has a key role to play in strategic planning, because it is the job of marketing management to understand and manage the links between the business and the “environment”. Sometimes this is quite a straightforward task. For example, in many small businesses there is only one geographical market and a limited number of products (perhaps only one product!). However, consider the challenge faced by marketing management in a multinational business, with hundreds of business units located around the globe, producing a wide range of products. How can such management keep control of marketing decision-making in such a complex situation? This calls for a well organized marketing plan.

The following questions lie at the heart of any marketing and strategic planning process:
                Where are we now?
                How did we get there?
                Where are we heading?
                Where would we like to be?
                How do we get there?
                Are we on course?

Businesses operate in hostile and increasingly complex environments. The ability of a business to achieve profitable sales is impacted by dozens of environmental factors, many of which are interconnected. It makes sense to try to bring some order to this chaos by understanding the commercial environment and bringing some strategic sense to the process of marketing products and services.

A marketing plan is useful to many people in business. It can help to:
                Identify sources of competitive advantage
                Gain commitment to a strategy
                Get resources needed to invest in and build the business
                Inform stakeholders in the business
                Set objectives and strategies
                Measure performance

If you are interested in more about marketing and a plan that is right for your business or nonprofit organization, give us a call at 814-528-9400.