Mentoring

Photo credit: Vaughan Williams

Effectively monitoring the wider business environment to continually support strategic goals is not an unfamiliar concept however for marketers who design effective short, mid and long term plans they will now face their toughest professional changes in the months and years ahead. Recent reports from sources such as the Financial Times and the Economist have shown that even the most senior analysts are not able to accurately predict the business reactions within the current economic crisis.

The fact that there are currently many business variables globally will mean that any fast paced planning should be much more considered as this will likely effect the marketing plan. Traditionally these highly effective analytical economists have been the benchmark when predicting business and will demonstrate to marketers that they will not only need the ability to create and design robust plans but will have to ensure that a reactive mechanism and a fast radar sensing factor built within  plans in order to account for fluctuations within the business world.

Having a strong ability to react well to fluctuating market changes which influence the commercial ability of businesses will be of great importance to marketers as identified in Marketing Week August 11, 2011; 19 ‘How Marketers can climb to CEO level’. Building corporate empathy and having a broad and detailed understanding of where marketing actually fits in to the corporate platform will likely win respect from the commercial or sales director.

The commercial team will have the most influence and decision power towards the board of directors in turbulent times of order to recommend how best to manage financial fluctuations in order to remain top of the business game. By demonstrating that marketing not only understands and reacts well to the sensitive economic environment but also to find effective solutions, (‘Fix’) and advise on business challenges through their own marketing expertise.

Through concise and regular monitoring of the market (constant analysis/research and radar sensing) marketers will be able to assess both traditional and digital platforms in order to make flexible informed decisions that can then be demonstrated within marketing plans. It’s time for marketers to fully reach out to commercial teams in order to grow to assist the business in order to grow this to a new strategic level so that finally marketing gain total corporate recognition and credibility.

Consumer trends, slower and erratic market growth and the threat of a double dip recession will at the very least provide justification for marketing professionals to be even more meticulous to detail and look even wider than ‘out of the box’ in order to identify and close possible gaps and then have a contingency plan to suit. The difficulty then will then not be with the currently designed strong plan that does reflect quality marketing messages but the economic and analytical front line now ‘blurred’ by the current dimensions of the disruptive business world.

As always the 999 call must be for marketers to ‘Fix’ and cope with the challenging corporate terrain in order to retrospectively demonstrate that the marketing function is much more than sales, corporate events and a catchy campaign or tag word. From here on marketing will provide total clarity, strong leadership and a brighter futuristic understanding for the corporate world to embrace.

More from Kevin

Hear more from Kevin by reading his other articles; Leadership Verses Micro Management, and The New Leaders of Marketing.