Almost every marketer faces various challenges. To overcome them, you need to optimize your advertising and promotion strategies to turn marketing into a more effective revenue generator.
What challenges do marketers face when conducting market research?
Goal setting: problem #1
For all the fascination with new marketing concepts, digital technology and new business tactics, there is still a major challenge that has proven time and time again to have a disproportionate impact on businesses: identifying the source of growth for a brand, product or service.
Choosing the wrong target or a less important one will certainly reduce the growth potential and slow down the return on investment. Traditionally, this is called marketing segmentation, but modern experts have dubbed it “demand mapping”.
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The important questions in this problem statement are: why it is important and how to improve it.
The following five questions will help you dive into the “why” without leaving the “how” question.
1.Can one product be suitable for everyone?
The concept explains how to find a market that is interested in or needs your product. If it’s a new brand, you need to find a niche that hasn’t been filled yet. The answer to the question is: you can’t please everyone, and that’s okay. You need to find those who will be interested in the brand.
2. What are the potential segments for the company’s development?
To answer the question, you need to analyze the available options and find the one that is most cost-effective.
3. Which market segments are easy to conquer?
Even if you’ve found a profitable segment that’s a perfect fit for your product, it can be fragmented or expensive.
4. How to find the target audience to which the marketing program is directed?
Understanding the engines of buying power, to select tactics that influence behavior.
5. How to introduce the product or service?
You need to know what you are aiming for or who the service is for
The role of marketing in the firm: problem #2
Academic views and corporate practice regarding the role of marketing within the firm often do not coincide. The role of marketing in the needs of the firm needs to be reconsidered, because supply lines are globalizing and “customer demand” (not supply) is the limiting factor for corporate growth.
We need to explore what is possible, as well as what is already happening in some firms. For example, in some firms, marketing has lost power within the firm, even though one of its fundamental roles is to represent the voice of the market in heated discussions.
Relevant questions:
1. What are marketing and non-marketing tasks and problems?
Recent evidence suggests that much of the information is no longer controlled by the marketing function, but by an organizational asset within the responsible analysts or IT group. This has changed the balance of power within the organization. Is this true or is there evidence to the contrary?
2. How should the firm’s marketing tasks be organized?
When should organizations centralize marketing activities and when should they decentralize them? How to energize marketing activities in enterprises? Is there an optimal balance? And if there is, how is it determined what is optimal or suboptimal?
3. what is a “world class” marketing organization?
What is the best staffing structure for an organization? What does it depend on?
Digital Transformation of the Modern Corporation: Problem #3
Marketers take a very narrow view of social media, Big Data and the transformation of marketing communications. However, at the executive level, there are much bigger challenges centered on business model change, survival and future competitive advantage.
Key issues:
1.How do you win the competition with the companies of the future?
In almost every industry, there are firms that are moving from product manufacturing to information and services.
2. How do perceptions of the appearance of firms change with market position?
The answer is that the whole organization changes, not just the outward appearance with clients. Structures, workflow and decision rights are transformed by the updates.
3. How will this affect my business model?
What types of new business models are emerging? Is one type of business model superior or is it context-dependent?
4. What might affect my ways of communicating and interacting with customers?
It used to be mostly one-way communication. Now customers take control of products, services, design and communications. It is communication not only between the firm and clients, but also between market participants (e.g. client to client).
5. How do you use social and other digital channels to generate new views from customers and competitors?
Can I also use them to track my progress in the marketplace?
Planning in the creation of a marketing practice: problem #4
There is a debate brewing around the role of Big Data and analytics within firms. This can lead to diametric vectors of marketing campaign planning. It could be argued that while our data and knowledge is rapidly adding up, our actual understanding is not.
Is there a customer insight that can be leveraged in the marketplace? This problem can be solved with new methods, but we are more concerned with unique information that leads to competitive advantage. How do organizations collect, distribute, store, communicate, and leverage this insight? More broadly, in our knowledge-based economy , this leads to competitive advantage rather than the traditional view of products, capabilities and assets.
1.How can we get new and better customers?
It’s not just about methods, but also about looking into and visualizing the future.
2. How do I get my customers’ experience?
We’ve all explored tools to map an algorithm to customer behavior. What is unique about these algorithms?
3. can we identify competitor insight?
Did almost all the data focus on user or consumer analysis? When are more or less valuable insights differentiated, and why?
4. Who should do this in our organization?
What is the role of marketing in getting new ideas? Does it drive the process? Is there value in gathering opinions from other areas? Is there a catalytic function?
5. How can we identify the insight driver in our business?
The focus today is on creating insight, and this is obviously not an easy task. How can we make sure that we fully and quickly utilize the insights we have been able to create?
Working with all promotion channels or multichannel: Problem #5
The 1990s saw a revolution in efficiency, systems and re-engineering. As we move into the 21st century, the main revolutionary action is visual interaction with customers.
Social media, mobile media, persistent messaging, the internet and multichannel markets – this is what the current reality looks like.
What do we know about this world? How will new trends affect consumer products? Are traditional theories and approaches usable in such a multichannel world? What new capabilities do firms need to survive in this world?
1.How do I find out, “How and where do customers and prospects want to buy my product”?
The main problem is not in the promotion of a particular channel, but in its interface.
2. What does a proper client interface look like?
Keep in mind that many of the interfaces are no longer under the control of the firm. Can we form a discussion?
3. How does it work in different countries?
In many cases, technology in developing countries or political infrastructure is at odds with integration into the global economy. How does the political, economic and social context shape the ability to integrate a global company?
4. How to organize communication between channels?
The basic problem in most cases is how the firm organizes, rewards and manages profits and losses. A particular activity may be in the interest of the entire firm, but not in the interest of a particular business unit or group. How does the firm reward a business unit that may be losing?
5. expertise and responsibility of employees working directly with clients
How expert should they be and can they influence communication channels? Should the store employee be an expert on cell phones, websites, call centers, and other touch points that the firm uses to communicate with customers?
6. How do I develop a polychannel strategy for my brand?
Are there general rules, or is it different for every firm? How does multichannel influence the choice of partners?
7. How will polychannelization change the B-to-B market?
Are there unique challenges in the B-to-B world that we don’t see in the B-to-C world?
Competing in dynamic global markets: Problem #6
The speed of adaptation is driven by competitors and customers. At the customer level, this is reflected in location-based marketing based on mobile apps, real-time tracking of customer behavior, and the constant promotion of new, more nimble competitors.
For many industries,smart products, smart applications and connected devices are at the heart of this change, as well as the growing willingness of firms to develop partner ecosystems rather than go it alone.
In many industries, new and more flexible competition may be from firms even from emerging economies. What are the implications of dealing with such nontraditional competitors? On the contrary, the greatest growth opportunities for many firms lie in emerging markets with unfamiliar customer needs.
What does it mean for the marketing function to deal with such new and dynamic markets? Does marketing continue to be the key interface for the inflow of market information and the outflow of market-oriented products and solutions?
1.How can I compete with ecosystems and individual projects?
Much has been written about the shift from a competitive “keep up” dynamic to an increasingly networked world where platforms compete with platforms. We see this most clearly in the technology sector, but it’s evident in most other sectors as well. What does a good ecosystem of players look like?
2. How can we predict the movements of competitors in our market?
To paraphrase Peter Drucker: “the best way to predict the future is to create the future”. How does a firm plan for the future? Do they do it alone or in conjunction with others? What can we learn from this process?
3. Как мне конкурировать с глобальными проектами, о которых даже не слышал?
This is one of the most important challenges of the major global players: who are the new players of the world? How do I identify them early on? Will I gain, or will I lose? What do I need to do to make such external market acquisitions work? How can I make sure I take full advantage of them?
4. If I have a medium-sized (or small) firm, how do I expand quickly?
What market characteristics are driving growth, how can I capitalize on them? How can I gain new customer resources and upgrade my end product delivery logistics?
5. How do I organize market monitoring and forecast possible changes in the market?
Is this the work of marketing or someone else’s? If so, whose? What are the costs and benefits of different approaches to this?
Balance between incremental and radical innovation: problem #7
Firms must compete in two time periods: the present and the future. How do we balance this dual focus? How do we fuel the necessary innovation in the present: by investing in the technologies, business models, partnerships, and customer experiences that chart the course for the future? How do we foster innovation outside of the product-organization, network, financial model, distribution channels, and other forms of innovation that can increase competition in the future? Can we, and should we, balance time by sequentially shifting our focus from radical to incremental (e.g., behaving like a tech business and building new “platforms” and then adding “modules”) rather than trying to do it all at once?
1. How have I successfully joined design principles in my organization?
What can we learn from other firms that have successfully deployed design thinking? What is the dark side of design thinking? What does it create in terms of unforeseen challenges for the firm?
2. What should we think about creating platforms?
It’s not enough to have successful products. Successful firms think in the boundaries of platforms, franchises and ecosystems. It’s not just products, but an entire ecosystem of products, information, brands and retail. What are the lessons learned?
3. How do I make sure I get the right results from market research?
How can I run tests and still keep my intentions out of reach of opponents’ radar?
5. How do I summarize the results of the innovation and how do I implement it in my firm?
How do I determine when I should produce or buy? Is there a viable business model where I can effectively identify innovations and capitalize on those that I find successful? Can I “win” financially by making such purchases and acquisitions? If so, how?
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