What role does marketing play in your finishing and coating operation?
Jim CastigliaDoes your shop even have a marketing budget? Business today is a street fight. And, it’s a challenge that you can’t afford to lose. Technology has sped everything up and been the cause of great changes. The finishing and coating operations that survive and thrive in this environment are the ones with optimized management, finance, economic, and marketing dimensions. The focus of this article is on the marketing dimension.
“The ultimate goal of being in business is not just the pursuit of sales or profits or even cash,” Business mastery guru Keith J. Cunningham says. “It’s to maximize the value of the business over the long-term. The value of a business is directly tied to the size, predictability, sustainability, and growth rate of its earnings.”
The major task of all organizations — and especially finishing and coating operations — is to create and re-create customers. Customers are truly an organization’s assets and should be treated as such. Organizations that fail to generate customers should not, do not, and will not survive! Therefore, effective marketing is the key to maximizing the value of your business over the long term.
Importance of Effective Marketing
Dr. Philip Kotler, the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, is a top marketing thinker dedicated to cementing marketing’s reputation as a serious business discipline. He defines marketing as “meeting needs profitably. Marketing is the homework you do to hit the mark that satisfies the needs of your audience, exactly.”
Winning companies choose specific audiences and make them central to developing their strategy and operations. A focus on relating to customers is critical in a world no longer marked by a shortage of goods but by a shortage of customers.
Management guru Peter Drucker says, “Marketing is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final results, that is, from the customer’s point of view.” He insisted that a company has only two functions: innovation and marketing.
Effective marketing concentrates on one thing only: the relationship between your finishing and coating operation and its market. Therefore, marketing is the intentional process of creating and maintaining the relationship of the “customer.” In other words, marketing is a matter of building relationships between your firm and its market – those willing to pay for its services.
Developing this relationship is everyone’s job. This customer-focused leadership is driven from the top of your organization chart.
How do you do it? The same way you create and maintain any relationship: by what you say and what you do! Focus your energies on building a culture geared toward developing that crucial relationship. Be clear about your mission, your values, and your uniqueness. Be clear about your ideal customer. Be clear about the benefits of your product or service. Build the best team possible. Never settle. Never quit.
Designing and creating this kind of customer-driven orientation in your organization will enable you to maximize its value. Make the time to think about the role of marketing in your organization. What improvements can you make? If you need help, get it.
Marketing expenditures
The money spent on marketing illustrates whether a firm operates with a marketing orientation. When the business cycle contracts, your attitude toward customers is revealed. Do you cut advertising, selling, and/or customer-facing functions? More than likely, these reductions will inhibit your ability to generate new customers when most needed. Marketing-oriented firms often gain market share during these recessionary cycles.
Jim Castiglia is the founder of Business Street Fighter Consulting and supports entrepreneurial business owners in their desire to grow and maximize the value of their business. He can be reached by email at JimC@BSF.consulting or by phone at 919.263.1256. Visit www.BSF.consulting
How To Create A Marketing Budget
- Percentage of sales: Determine a percentage of your sales and spend that on marketing. This is the easiest way to determine a budget for a small business. A good place to start is between 3% and 6% of your sales revenue.
- Competition marketing: What is your top competition doing? Match what they’re doing.
- Set a goal: Calculate how many prospects you need to put into the top of your sales pipeline and the costs of the various ways you can fill that pipeline.
- Owner decides: Just pick a number.
