Here are some thoughts I leave with attendees of my workshops, keynotes, lectures, and presentations. They are comments I often feel obliged to write when marketing assignments of MBA students looking for feedback to improve their understanding and use of advanced strategic marketing concepts.

  • Throughout your business analysis, there is a worrying “homogenisation of the market”. This, too, is commonly found in real-life business decision-making; often limiting the potential productivity of commercial organisations.
  • Remember, a market is simply a corral for market segments. The “holy grail” of marketing is STP (segmentation, targeting and positioning) and should always be top-of-mind in assessing marketing strategy.
  • In the words of Jack Welch, if you don’t have competitive advantage, don’t compete!”
  • Further, if you are not targeting a specific segment, you are employing the “hit and hope” approach, likely to be a losing one.
  • A valuable situation analysis tool would be a CVM (Customer Value Management) analysis and assessment to determine the key accounts within the industry, assuming the Pareto Ratio is in play (and most likely it is) who return the most profit. Not all clients are equal!
  • Remembering that in contrast to B2C Marketing, in B2B Marketing, the “personal selling” component of the promotional mix is the most significant contributor to achieving “exchange” (sales); input should most certainly include feedback “from the trenches” … You should source and cite advice from your sales team (which also delivers an employee engagement and internal marketing payback).
  • Lead users and happy customers should also be sourced for marketing mix embellishment. Likewise, complaints assessment and response should be analysed and evaluated.
  • Most certainly, lifecycle shape and position of the industry life cycle are crucial to the adoption of the “right” pricing strategy.
  • For example, in B2B business services, you need to assess whether your target segment/s and/or key accounts (if you pursue ABM (Account Based Marketing) perceive your offering as majorly:
    • Advisory Business Services

    • Accessory Equipment Capital Items
    • Manufactured Materials and Parts

or another “product type” so you can predetermine the prime buying motives associated with each classification.