Marketing Strategy – Some Rules

Hi guys! I hope that I find you well and in good health.  Last time out we were talking about the Value Chain.  If you had not read that article here is Part A and Part B.  I had promised to create a Part C although we did not get enough votes for that one.  It was going to be quite a long one so I will put the series on ice for now.  In this edition we are going to be talking about marketing rules.  Ask yourself this question, ‘Do I know the rules of everything that I do on a daily basis?’  There is a code for everything that we do although we seldom know these rules.  This mostly has to do with how we will have been taught how to do these things.  I am here to make a suggestion to you.  The suggestion is that sometimes there are benefits in knowing and following the rules of a certain discipline.  In the case of marketing there are financial benefits as following the marketing rules will contribute positively to your bottom line.  There are many marketing rules but I will just focus on a few of them.  I also need your help guys so I will ask you a question at the end of this article. Here we go!

Marketing Rules #1 – Have an identity

One of the major roles of marketing strategy is to give your company an identity.  This identity must link to the psychology and other characteristics of your target market.  This will allow you to select a segment which you can attack in a way that will make the most of limited resources.  It is easy to tell when a firm is using what is called a ‘Spray and Pray’ approach to business.  They do this and that with the hope of getting a return on their investment.  This is a symptom of there not being a science involved in how some people do things.  In this case the marketing department.  I go to CBZ once a month to pay my taxes.  As you know ZIMRA banks through CBZ.  I use the Kwame Nkrumah branch.  The service in the bank is average at best.  The building itself leaves a lot to be desired.  For example they have those glass doors that are being used by banks these days, the one with the ‘robots’ which tell you when to open and close the door.  The door has not being working properly for a year now, wow! As a result of my affiliation with CBZ I went on their website, snooping around as usual.  What did I see? I saw CBZ Bank, CBZ Insurance, CBZ Life and Datvest.  So I am thinking why do they have all of this when the core business is not functioning at an optimum level?  Is this not spreading yourself too thin?  I did some research and according to the SuperBrand report (2013) CBZ was outranked by Nyaradzo Funeral Services, Doves, Moonlight Funeral Assurance and Nicoz etc. in some of the areas that they are competing in.  In banking they were ranked number 1 though.  Have an identity.  Choose a segment and be the best at that.  I am sure if they did this they would make more money from their core business at such a level that these other services would not be required.

Marketing Rules #2 – The marketing department should live in the market

Marketing is about people. It is about building bonds and relationships much like in a family or a friendship.  One thing about families and friends is that people know each other on a personal level like what makes them tick and so on.  In order for you to know about someone you have to interact with them.  I love having a good time and I love music.  So yes you can find me in a nightclub getting down.  If you have never been to Chez Ntemba then go there, it is in the NetOne building (the building in that picture) at number 1 Jason Moyo Avenue.  One thing that I love about this club is that you will find the club’s managers in the crowd, interacting with their customers.  Even though they will be acting friendly a keen eye will be able to see that they will be on a fact finding mission hearing our views about the music, the setup and all.  I believe that the changes that have been made to the club are a reaction to the information that they have gathered.  The latest development being the creation of a Hip Hop, Dancehall and Zim Dancehall section to cater for their younger customers.  This change was a hit and I am sure that the positive effects were felt on their balance sheet.  This is the reason why Chez Ntemba has been around for about a decade (correct me if I’m wrong) while clubs like Mekka, Circus and the Platinum Lounge have come and gone.  You go into a club which is not considered as a professional setup and get professional treatment, then you go to service stations, grocery stores and other companies that are considered as professional setups and the professionals are nowhere in sight. That’s pretty odd if you ask me.

Marketing Rules #3 – Conduct market research consistently

I receive my WiFi bills from ZOL via email.  At the end of the email they have a question which says ‘Please take a moment to tell us how you feel about this communication from ZOL’. The question has 3 possible responses which are ‘Great!’, ‘OK, fine’ and ‘Bad’.  I once selected the option ‘Bad’ and I received a call from ZOL asking me to shed more light on why I had given them such a rating.  Such an approach will help you to nip problems in the bud before they escalate and cause you to lose customers.  Have a means of getting feedback from customers around the clock be it leaving questionnaires at service points, your website or on your IVR in your call centers.  This will make customers feel like they have a say in what you do which is critical in building relationships.  Of course you will have to do something about the issues that the customers will have raised so as to lend credibility to the exercise.  For example if you ask your loved one what he or she wants for Christmas and then you do not buy anything for them you will be looking to create problems for yourself. Another example of a firm which actively gathers feedback is Barclays Bank.  I saw some questionnaires in their banking hall in Avondale some time ago.

Marketing Rules #4 – Hire missionaries, and not employees

This little birdie flew out of it’s mother’s nest last year in January.  I moved into my own apartment for not so obvious reasons.  My main aim was/is to make my apartment a cocoon from which I will emerge a leader in industry.  And also to be independent and have fun bla bla bla.  So I was shopping for my furniture and my excitement led me to the Sony shop along Samora Machel.  I was looking for a TV.  I wanted a high resolution TV with 1080 p display. The TV had to have a high refresh rate as well because I was going to use it together with the PlayStation 4 that I was going to buy.  I had the whole plan in my head and nothing was going to stop me from achieving it.  So I approached the salesman and asked him to tell me about the TV. He told me the basic stuff that sounded pre-meditated.  I then asked him for the refresh rate as I wanted at least 200 Hz to ensure that there was minimal blur when I played FIFA.  I asked him how many HDMI ports the TV had because I wanted to ensure that I could connect my PlayStation and PVR decoder to the TV at the same time.  The dude did not have answers to all my questions.  I asked him to call the other guy and I did not make any progress with them either.  I resolved to leaving the shop because the questions that I was going to ask them after that were probably going to make them sad.  The cost to the shop was that I ended up buying my TV from Argos in the UK and I still landed it for less money.  Employees will only learn what they are taught in training like the guys at Sony and missionaries will use their own energy to find out more about the products in a bid to serve customers better and close more sales.  This type of motivation is intrinsic and more importantly it is natural.  Human Resources I hope you have read this.  This applies to all employees and not just sales people.

Marketing Rules #5 – Create a community around your brand

According to Wikipedia a community is a condition of sharing or having certain attitudes or interests in common.  The keywords in that definition are condition, attitudes and interests.  These words are intrinsic in nature in that they talk to things that happen within an individual, their mind especially. These words reside in someone’s bone marrow if I can put it that way.  An example in Zimbabwe is religion and how the prophets have captured the imagination of the masses. Look at the way people pay their tithes religiously and follow everything that they are told by the prophets. Imagine if UFIC was to list on the stock exchange with all that clout that it has in its followers’ minds.  The shares would be worth something isn’t? This is me just analysing, I am Catholic by the way.  Look at the Barclays Premier League as a brand.  Man U fans versus Chelsea fans versus Man City fans versus Liverpool fans. It’s a culture and a lifestyle.  People live their lives through the Premier League talking about football everywhere they are, debating and posting their views on social media and all (free publicity).  The main transactions occur a few times a month when people pay Multichoice and the lifestyle continues throughout the week between matches.  I am sure paying up the DSTV subscription is very high up on peoples’ priority lists as a result.  You can the community approach in the Premier League adverts which talk to what the fans care about most. The excitement, the rivalry and the passion for soccer.  All of the brand equity that is generated by the Premier League translates into huge broadcasting deals, endorsements and the likes.  Marketing is not about straight selling, it is about creating a culture or lifestyle around your brand with business happening as a by-product.  When something becomes part of a culture naturally it will occur frequently and consistently which will reflect as repeat business.  This is how building a community around your brand can make you a lot of money.

If you noticed I did not use a local company as an example in the last paragraph.  I scratched my head and tried to come up with an example but I could not think of a firm which is using the strategy i.e. building a community around your brand such that people live your brand willingly without any incentives.  Please help me by giving me an example I probably missed it somewhere.  Thanks in advance!

As you can see some rules have benefits.  The issue with marketing rules is that no one is there to enforce them and as such most do not know them let alone follow them.  You might be losing out on some income by simply not following some of these rules and believe me when I say that there are many rules.  It is different from say, Law where they have chapters on this and that and you can get arrested if you do not follow this rule or that rule.  On the flip side the fact that you have read these rules means you now have a chance to start gaining a competitive advantage on your rivals.  What other marketing rules do you know of?  Speak your mind in the comments section below.

Thanks

Ruvimbo