Marketing 101: Managing Marketing Information: An Overview

Now that we have finished our overview of the Marketing Micro-environment, it's time to begin looking at Managing Marketing Information.

Why do we care about marketing information?  Marketing Information allows the Marketing Manager to do their job; it allows them to make real strategic decisions involving a business's brand, it's products, and the messages communicated to it's Publics.  Marketing Information provides a business with data about it's customers needs, the marketing environment, and it's competition.  A Marketing Information System provides data to key partners and suppliers in the Marketing Micro-environment.  Marketing managers usually need more information, they need the right information.

Over the next few weeks during out discussion of Managing Marketing Information we are going to cover:

- Assessing Marketing Needs
- Developing Marketing Information
- Marketing Research
- Analyzing Marketing Information

Assessing Marketing Needs
A good Marketing Information System balances the information you would LIKE to have with the information you NEED to have.  Remember, you don't need more information, just the RIGHT information.  Your responsibility as a marketing manager is to interview your staff to find out these needs.  Sometimes they may ask for more than they need, and they may not ask for what they really need because they don't know they need it.  Some managers won't ask for certain types of information because they feel they should already know it.

Sometimes it's not possible for your business to provide the information you need, because it is not available, or it is not capable because of your current Marketing Information System's limitations.  Always consider that the costs of obtaining, processing, storing and delivering marketing information can quickly become prohibitive for many business's.  You must decide if the benefits of having more information are worth the costs of providing it to your staff.  However, this can be hard to assess.  Remember that information doesn't itself have value.  What gives data value is how you are using it and the results it is providing your business.

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Marketing 101: Microenvironment - Marketing Intermediaries

It's time for Marketing 101.  We're still discussing the Marketing Microenvironment.  This week let's discuss Marketing Intermediaries.

Marketing Intermediaries are businesses that help your company to promote, sell, and distribute your products and services to your customers. They can include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing service agencies, and financial intermediaries.

Resellers
Resellers, such as Target or Best Buy, are distribution channel businesses that help your company find customers or make sales to them.  There are now numerous large reseller organizations (think big box such as Target and Amazon) that have enough power to dictate terms, or even shut out other manufacturers (or even you) from larger markets and groups of customers.  It is absolutely important to have great relationships with resellers.  It is a give and take situation.  Often times, especially with larger organizations such as Walmart, you must be willing to follow their pricing or selling guidelines in order to gain access to their customers.  It may cost you money to get your product on their shelves, or be featured in their advertisements.  Unless you have a long, successful relationship with these resellers, you will typically have to supply them product and services on their terms.  In these situations, successful sales of your product in their stores will be what builds leverage for you in the relationship.

Physical Distribution Firms
Physical Distribution Firms help your business stock and move goods to their points of origin and to their destinations, ie: from the factory to a warehouse and then to the stores.  It is often much more economical to rely on these companies, because logistics is their specialty.  To build a logistics team and infrastructure is often very expensive to do from scratch, and is only really necessary when you are moving massive amounts of goods in highly specialized and time critical ways.  If you are manufacturing internationally, make sure you develop a good relationship with a firm that knows the in's and out's and politics of getting product in and out of ports and dealing with customs. 

Marketing Services Agencies
Marketing Services Agencies usually consist of marketing research firms, ad agencies, consultants, and media firms.  These companies exist to help you find and target your customers.  These businesses typically help to fill in the holes in your marketing staff.  Research firms provide you with qualitative and quantitative data on markets and customers.  Ad agencies help provide fresh, outside creative ideas for your campaigns and strategic marketing efforts.  Agencies can bring multiple types of marketing experts to your business without you having to staff people for each discipline.  Consultants can service the role of internal marketing staff on a temporary, campaign or project basis.

The key to using Marketing Services Agencies is to partner with them to help you with your weaknesses.  Whomever you use, make sure they are filling a hole that you haven't filled yourself on staff.  Make sure that they are invested in bringing you results.  You must keep constant tabs on them: are they doing the right work?  Are they investing your dollars properly?  Are they performing at a level that meets your expectations?  Are they truly concerned with achieving success for you?  Do you have a good working relationship with your account executives?

Financial Intermediaries
Financial Intermediaries help you use money.  They typically include banks, credit companies, insurance companies, other businesses that help you conduct financial transactions or insure against the risks associated with the buying and selling of goods and services.

Marketing Intermediaries are a crucial part of the marketing microenvironment.  You must have effective partnerships with these key elements of the microenvironment if you are going to successfully give value to your customers and get value from them.  Now is as good a time as any to evaluate the relationships you have with your marketing intermediaries.

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Marketing 101: Microenvironment - Suppliers

Last week, we examined the Company in the Marketing Microenvironment.  Your relationship with other departments within your business can greatly effect whether or not you are able to successfully get a product to market, communicate the right message, create customer value, and get value from your customer.  Now let's examine Suppliers.

In the Marketing Microenvironment, Suppliers form a critical link in the company's overall customer value delivery system.  Suppliers provide the resources you need to produce the products and services that you are selling.  Supplier's not only supply you with resources, they also can partner with you in the customer value delivery system. 

When it comes to actual physical resource management, Marketing Managers must watch supply availability.  Resource shortages, delays, labor issues, and other unforeseen events can cost sales in the short term, and damage customer satisfaction in the long term.

However the real key to delivering customer value with your suppliers is partnering with them.  Partnering with them allows them to receive value from you other than payment for goods.  For example, have you considered offering to test new products and goods from your supplier?  What are you doing to help your supplier work with you?  What kind of customer service are you providing to them?  Good partnership management results in success for not only you, but for them, and in the end, your customers.

Take the next week and honestly evaluate the state of your supplier relationships.  It might be a good idea to send them an impromptu survey with carefully worded questions that will help you assess how good (or bad) of a job you are doing maintaining your relationships.

Next time we will examine Marketing Intermediaries.

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