Of all the functional areas of a business, marketing can well be the most pervasive and dynamic activity. In my opinion, marketing should lead all other functions as it is in the information culled and the analysis undertaken by the marketing company (or marketing department) where the decisions and planning can be made. For example, once you know how your website performs in search and/or which pages convert the most sales, you can then make a decision on whether to capitalize on this or improve on it. Similarly, existing clients can be the best source of information so the results of analysis into why they bought from you, when and how could again be expanded on and/or improved.
However, every department of a business is dependent on the organisation having clear, unambiguous and quantifiable objectives in order for it to succeed and, with more and more emphasis being placed on achieving a return on any investment made, it is the allocation of and administering of the marketing mix that will influence the long term planning.
The marketing mix consists of 4 key variables –
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place
Sometimes packaging is added to the list, but this can also be included into the “promotional” part of the mix. One key aspect to consider is that the mix elements are interdependent – alter one and another will also change.
So, what will be the “the marketing policy” of your organisation? My suggestion would be to try and look at the marketing mix in relation to –
- Determining the kind of product to sell
- Defining the customers at whom the marketing effort should be directed
- Defining the action and procedures to be implemented to get the products/services to the customer
A brand will be made up of a collection of different perceptions that will have been built up after exposure to every aspect of your business. This can be a myriad of different things:
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