Has Your Company Achieved Marketing Practitioner Competency?

A marketing practitioner doesn’t consider “marketing” to be a department. Instead, it is a concept and belief that is embraced and executed throughout the organization. Members have the respective experience, insight, knowledge, skills and discipline necessary to continually challenge the company’s level of excellence in customer experience, research, innovation, value proposition, promotion and channels. If you subscribe to the basic keys to success that apply to any marketing competency level and your company has achieved the apprentice competency level, consider taking your marketing to the practitioner level.

Practitioners Position Each Brand in the Right Category

A practitioner positions each brand as a member of a reputable category that specializes in specific solutions for defined segments or personas. Practitioners leverage competitive advantages and emulate the best-in-class methods of other marketing practitioners who may be within or outside their category. They retain customers and attract prospects and partners through their unique value proposition [UVP]. Authentic, unique, desirable, and believable differentiators are sustainable barriers to competitive entry and customer churn. Practitioners who have great customer relationships and category authority compete directly [head-to-head] or indirectly [change category ground rules]. If they are operating from a lesser position of strength, they compete divisionally by being willing to share the market with competitors.

Practitioner Growth Strategy is Based on Research

• What market segments/personas are served by existing products?
• What new segments/personas can be served by existing products? Why?
• What new or modified products should be developed for existing segments/personas? Why?
• What underserved needs create opportunities for new or modified products?
  

Growth Strategy Options for Each Brand

1. Market Penetration – a significant growth opportunity suggests investment in skills, resources and tools for doing a better job serving existing markets with existing products.
2. Market Development – new segments present a significant opportunity for existing products.
3. Product Development – existing segments need a new product(s) that matches company competencies.
4. Diversification – high risk/reward strategy of serving new segments by developing new products that are outside company competencies.
   

Optimize Customer Experience Through Content and Touch Points

Practitioners leverage analytics to drip market timely, concise and relevant content based on segment/persona preferences and their respective stage in the marketing or sales funnel. Each message aims to expand permission for nurturing leads and building relationships. Practitioners leverage common business documents [quotations, invoices, change orders, etc.] as vehicles for tailoring content to the moment. Emails are embedded with trackable relevant content.

Customer experience rankings rise when a website offers excellent self-service and directs visitors to the right content.  It will also rise when notifications are sent to confirm transactions along with timely alerts. Mobile applications increase participation. Customers will be impressed when contact center associates refer to the CRM system to understand their business, their current issues and status changes that impact risk tolerance before suggesting next logical steps.

Practitioners use marketing automation tools to map lead life and to enable nurturing. Effective lead scoring helps to prioritize prospects and close gaps in the lifecycle.

The primary KPI for a marketing practitioner company is related to the number of closed sales that are originated by marketing programs, campaigns and resources.