Factfile 46
The importance of having clear marketing aims
Before it is possible to address return on marketing investment (ROMI) metrics, it is important to ensure that marketing a company has clear marketing aims.
Generally, marketing strategy will vary according to the aims. For example, they may be:
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Sales-driven - with the onus on protecting and gaining revenue.
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Market-driven - with the onus on introducing new products, expanding market share or diversifying into new markets.
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Customer-driven - with the onus on forging new or deeper existing client relationships.
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Hoping to increase brand equity. Marketing should not be entirely sales-led; companies should respond to market signals to attain greater profitability. Branding is equally important because it creates ongoing value for a firm, even in highly competitive and commoditized b2b markets. Why?
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Brands create perceptual value for customers, while at the same time creating financial value for management and shareholders.
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A strong brand shifts the competitive framework in the firm's favour, giving it intangible, difficult to replicate values with which to compete, along with its performance in product features, price and distribution.
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Strong brands generally command a premium price against a generic, unbranded equivalent, generally capture a higher share of market and often are perceived as having superior quality - even in such rational and negotiated purchasing categories as computers, medical imaging, telecommunication networks and oil exploration.
Whatever the objectives of a company, they must be clearly defined and recognised, in order to facilitate the development of efficient metrics.