In today's world it is difficult to imagine even a medium-sized company without a marketing department or at least one or two specialists in this field. Market realities do not allow to do without an integrated approach to the process of creating a product or service and their further distribution. In the variety of brands and brands, it is very difficult to find a place for your product on a shelf in a store. Without knowledge and practical skills in this area it will be very difficult to continue their activities.

Market activity

Marketing is any activity of a company or firm with the goal of creating products and their further marketing. The main tasks can be considered the collection and analysis of the necessary information to draw a portrait of the target audience, search for UTP, the study of the commitment and expectations of potential buyers. In addition, marketing helps to understand what place the company occupies among other companies in this industry.

Market activity begins with the development of a product and ends only after a person has purchased a product or service, tried them and was able to form an opinion. If the final product in some way does not meet the expectations of customers, the task of specialists is to understand the reason and find ways to eliminate it.

To answer the question of what the marketing department does, you need to decide on its functions. Tasks that specialists solve can be both tactical and strategic, the correct formulation of which can affect the achievement or failure to achieve goals. Any marketing activity should have a result that can be estimated in units of measure (company profit, quantity of goods sold, percentage growth of buyers, etc.).

Work principles

To organize a competent functioning process, several rules must be observed.

First, the structure of the marketing department should be simple. From it you need to remove all the extra links that affect the speed of the search for the necessary solutions.

Secondly, each employee must be responsible for a limited number of functions. It is categorically impossible for a large number of people to be responsible for the same area of \u200b\u200bwork. This will complicate and extend the process of solving tasks.

Third, all employees must be flexible and adaptable. Under the conditions of rapidly changing market conditions, the main success factor will be the ability to quickly find new ways to solve the tasks than a competitor can do.

The specifics of the organization of work of the marketing department also depends on the type of activity of the company, production volumes, number of employees, presence of subsidiaries and branches, industry focus, presence of competitors and their number, remoteness from end consumers and distribution points.

Structural device

The number of specialists working in one marketing department may be different. It depends on the size of the company and the goals set. As mentioned above, each marketer should be engaged in their own field of market activity. Someone will investigate competitors, someone will draw up a portrait of a buyer, someone will look for new ways and ways of marketing finished products.

Many modern firms sell their goods not only offline, that is, through physical stores, but also online. The ways of promoting services through these channels are significantly different, so it’s advisable to assign these tasks to different specialists. In addition, it requires marketers who are responsible for ongoing projects and SEO-promotion of the company on the Internet.

The marketing department also includes logisticians, designers, content editors, copywriters, photographers, and videographers. Often, it is required to supplement the existing team with more promoters and employees for one-time projects. Each of these specialists has a number of their unique tasks, of which, as a result, a full-scale marketing activity is formed. In most cases, either a chief or a general manager is present in departments, who controls the work process and directs it in the right direction.

Marketing Department Functions

To achieve all of the company's goals, a clear tactic and strategy is required. Responsible for this type of work is the marketing manager, or marketer. It is from his professional efforts that the positive dynamics depend. This may be an increase in sales or recognition, the conquest of new target groups, access to a new market segment or the success of an advertising campaign to launch a new product or service.

The responsibilities of marketers, or marketing managers, include the following activities:

• Analysis of the market situation and future trends.
• Analysis of the behavior of potential buyers and consumers.
• Definition of the target market.
• Identification of competitive advantages.
• Drawing up programs to introduce benefits to the company.
• Development of strategies and tactics for product promotion.
• Tactical product line management.
• Increase customer loyalty.
• Analysis, control and calculation of the results of the work.

Studying market needs and trends

A marketing manager should begin his activity with a complete analysis of the market: from its trends and competitors to the expectations of buyers and intermediaries (for a company like B2B). Often, for better research, specialized analytical and statistical agencies are involved. Small and medium-sized businesses with a limited budget usually do not need this.

Upon completion of marketing research, the specialist draws up relevant reports and draws conclusions regarding a particular development and promotion strategy for the product. If he receives third-party data, then he will still have to adapt the information received taking into account goals and objectives.

After a thorough and thorough study of market niches and segments, assessment of the attractiveness of each segment and the potential viability of the company in the selected category, the marketer can determine the prospects for business development and the direction in which to move.

Target Audience

The marketing manager must have the necessary knowledge to identify the desires and expectations of the end user. They will ultimately help create a product that is in demand on the market, correctly determine its price and distribution methods.

This complex process chain begins with a detailed analysis of a potential buyer. Marketers conduct surveys, work with representative groups, collect research conducted before them. Based on these data, it is already possible to determine the needs and prejudices of the audience. The marketing manager should not only know all the positive aspects that customers would like to find in the proposed product, but also all their concerns about it.

The main task of the product is to solve the specific problem of the buyer. Moreover, he must meet his expectations. Behind the act of purchase are also certain motivational incentives. The task of the marketer is to identify them, then the consumer will buy the product more often and more willingly. For example, a cellulite cream can be sold on the basis that attractiveness and harmony will help women maintain relationships in the family or simply attract the attention of the opposite sex.

The mood of the audience can change due to various external reasons (the emergence of cheaper competitive analogues, cooling interest and others), so the marketer should always monitor the behavior and attitude of customers to the product in order to determine when the product or service needs to be modified.

Target Market Selection

There are two ways to develop a product or service:

1. Conduct a study of the target audience and identify their expectations, on the basis of which the product is subsequently created.
2. To analyze the technical and resource capabilities of the company and create a product based on them, and then look for the audience that will be interested in the existing product.

A thorough study of the market allows marketers to identify the most promising group of buyers, which will bring maximum profit and will be distinguished by loyalty. It also helps determine the target market and the segment in which the company would be most profitable to be represented. Knowing your customer preferences helps to identify the weaknesses of competitors and the shortcomings of their products.

Creating a competitive advantage

Attractive appearance can be considered one of the keys to product success. The task of marketers in this case is to give the product the necessary external characteristics and distinguish it from a number of similar products. In addition to this, you can create a unique selling proposition (USP), which will make the product even more attractive in the eyes of potential buyers.

Product competitiveness is considered one of its key characteristics. With the same functional set of two products, such as pots, the client will choose the one that he liked more or approached for the price. For some categories of goods, price is no longer a determining factor (essential goods, luxury products). In this case, it all depends on the appearance and the availability of additional services that come with the goods. Knowing the weaknesses of competitor products allows you to take a more advantageous position in the market.

Development of a long-term strategy

Without the participation of the marketing department in the enterprise, planning in the future is impossible. Firstly, its employees are familiar with all market trends and customer expectations. Secondly, they will quickly find a profitable segment for placing goods. Thirdly, they will be able not only to develop a strategy aimed at emphasizing the strengths of the advertised product, but also take into account potential dangers, reduce the risk of losses and develop a plan for marketing research and events that will help you achieve your goals faster.

Company product management

The marketing manager always knows the product in detail. He will be able to highlight the strengths and hide not the most attractive. In addition, the marketing manager will always be able to talk about the product and stimulate both the interest of the buyer and encourage him to the final action.

Skillful product management is just as important as developing a competent strategy and media plan for an advertising campaign. Without understanding the expectations of consumers in relation to a particular product, it will be impossible to correctly determine the price, size, number of units of goods in the package.

Customer Relationship Formation

Since the marketing and advertising department is responsible for the growth of the customer base and establishing feedback with consumers, their responsibilities also include the development and implementation of measures to attract more attention to a product, service or organization. Specialists should attract new ones, maintain relations with existing ones and try to return the departed customers.

In the realities of the modern market, it is the expansion of the customer base and the establishment of relations with them that becomes the key task of marketers. This is primarily due to the simplification of other processes thanks to the Internet. In addition, it has been proven that loyal customers can provide more stable income in the long run.

Control and analysis

As a rule, the chief marketing manager sets short-term and long-term goals for the whole team. In the future, he also has to control the process of their achievement. He will need to develop “corrective measures” if any of the tasks set cannot be successfully implemented. Resource management and control is also on his direct responsibilities.

From idea to sale

By itself, the marketer is both a manager and coordinator, and often an executor. The further fate of not only one product taken, but the whole organization as a whole depends on his knowledge and actions. When answering the question about what the marketing department is doing, it is important to remember its multifunctionality. He not only manages existing goods and services and conducts research, but also develops and implements new ones, helping the company move forward, increasing its customer base and annual turnover. Therefore, the presence of a competent marketer is important to maintain the life of the company in the long term.

Functions of the marketing department.

The main functions of the marketing service are:

· Market research, forecasting demand and product sales;

· Analysis of the effectiveness of marketing decisions;

· The study of the supply, quality of competing products, its advantages and disadvantages compared with the products of this enterprise;

· Creation of an information-statistical data bank, including data on a portfolio of orders for the supply of products, their production, stocks, the use of these data to accelerate the marketing of products;

· Planning visits to consumers by employees of the marketing department;

· Implementation of direct contacts with consumers of products;

· Providing company representatives traveling to exhibitions and fairs with brochures and other documents;

· The study and use of advanced advertising practices, and sales promotion in the country;

· Development of proposals for the creation of a fundamentally new product;

· Development of proposals for the study of technical conditions, corporate identity for product design (trademark, symbols, company colors, logos, etc.);

· Conducting a comparative analysis of distribution costs, identifying and eliminating economically unjustified expenses;

The marketing policy of the enterprise in the field of marketing mix.

As you know, the marketing policy of an enterprise includes a product, price, sales policy, as well as a policy of promoting a product on the market. It is in this way that the enterprise’s policy will be described: from choosing a product, determining its price, various marketing methods to the final stage - promoting the product, the stage at which the company's profit from the sale of goods increases.

If the external environment is not in the direct control of the organization, then the management of marketing activities is carried out by influencing the parameters of the marketing mix.

The marketing mix is \u200b\u200bthe totality of the controlled parameters of marketing activity, by manipulating which the organization is trying to best satisfy the needs of the target markets. The marketing mix consists of the following elements: product, price, bringing the product to the consumer, product promotion. Coordinated measures for the implementation of individual elements of the marketing mix, based on the objectives of achieving the goals of marketing activities, are included in the composition of the marketing plan.

At this stage, marketers, using market research, competitors and consumers, develop an enterprise action program in the field of product production (suggest which product will be in maximum demand, meet the needs of the buyer, determine its quality compared to competitors), establish rules for creating new products predict the product life cycle.

The marketing nature of the product is somewhat different from the generally accepted one, since what is commonly called a product in the general sense is called a product in marketing. A product is an integral part of a product that carries the basic qualities for which the product was purchased. For example, producing saccharin (a sugar substitute) cannot be called a product without appropriate support. Product support is a set of measures for the transportation, packaging, storage and use of the product. The product support group includes the following measures: everything that helps the product maintain its consumer qualities until sale (preservation, packaging, storage), measures for the proper use of the product (instructions, method of preparation), related products (adapters, batteries, cords).

And, finally, the product turns into a product when using marketing tools on it, which include design, advertising, well-established sales, and strong communication with the public.

Thus, a product for a marketer consists of a product, its support and marketing tools. Marketing entirely depends on the consumer, on his needs and requests, so the company is simply forced to change its product strategy, creating new products. First of all, you should determine which product can be called new:

a product that has no analogues in the market, which is the practical embodiment of a scientific breakthrough, is naturally called a new product. There are very few such products on the market, for example, copy and scan apparatuses and wireless cellular communications.

a product that has a qualitative difference from its predecessor, a similar product. An example is a floppy disk of a smaller size, greater capacity and strength (3.5 inches versus 5.25 inches).

new product for a specific market. For example, dishwashers were market novelty products in Ukraine in the early 90s.

an old product that was already on the market but has found a new use.

Of course, the entrepreneur risks starting researching a new product, because he does not know whether its costs will pay off. In such a case, there is a marketing service that helps the entrepreneur reduce the risk to a minimum, offering rules for creating a new product and thus increasing the profit and efficiency of the enterprise.

First, the idea of \u200b\u200ba new product is needed. Sources of ideas can be both consumers and scientists. In fact, it is important for the marketer to learn to listen at this stage of creating a new product, since ideas can also suggest competitors' shortcomings. Another source of ideas is scientists. Many companies consequently cooperate with universities, institutes, scientific laboratories. Also, ideas may be suggested by employees of the marketing system (wholesalers, retailers) as they are closer to the consumer. Opinion polls, statistics, test results in consumer magazines should not be ignored.

Secondly, screening and selection of ideas is required. This stage takes place according to two criteria: everything that is not connected with the commercial purpose of the enterprise is withdrawn, everything that does not correspond to the production capacities of the enterprise is withdrawn.

Thirdly, it is necessary to create a prototype of a new product, and it is important to remember that undetected errors at this stage will bring huge losses afterwards.

The next step will be the release of a trial batch of goods on a limited market and the study of this market.

Fifth, it is necessary to choose a place and time for the mass release of goods; it would be advisable to coincide with the release of any fair, exhibition, holiday.

So, you can formulate the basic law of new products: while one new product is on sale and is actively bought, the process of developing the next new product should be in parallel so that the company does not stand idle, and in order to increase its profitability and efficiency.

With the creation of a new product, its life cycle begins, which is characterized by the following stages:

1. Research and development. At this stage, the nucleation of the product, its ideas. Sales of goods are still zero, arrive negative.

2. Implementation. At this stage, the product begins its promotion to the consumer, an active advertising campaign takes place, but with sales growth, profit continues to grow in the negative direction.

3. Stage of growth. The most favorable stage for the manufacturer. The company makes a significant profit, sales of goods continues to grow.

4. The stage of maturity. The goods are produced in large quantities, sales are no longer growing at such a high rate, profits are gradually decreasing, as competition is felt.

5. Stage of recession. Sales drop sharply, the company ceases to produce goods, profit is very low.

Marketing accompanies a product all the way through its life cycle. The law of new goods can be considered from the point of view of the life cycle as: an enterprise will have maximum profit and efficiency only when the life cycles of various goods overlap each other.

Commodity policy at the enterprise solves the problem of creating a new product, is associated with the scope of production. Marketing development in this area helps the entrepreneur to avoid many mistakes that await him at this stage of economic activity. Therefore, we can clearly say that marketing product policy helps to increase the effectiveness of the company.

The area of \u200b\u200benterprise pricing includes wholesale and retail prices, all stages of pricing, tactics for determining the initial price of goods, tactics of price correction. Solving these issues, marketers set the most favorable price on the product, which helps to increase the profitability of the company.

Depending on the implementation chain, several types of prices can be distinguished. Wholesale prices of enterprises - prices at which the company sells products to the wholesale buyer. This price consists of the cost of production and profits of the enterprise. Wholesale trade prices are the prices at which a wholesale intermediary sells goods to a retailer. The price includes the cost, profit and supply discount (costs of the wholesale supplier). Retail price - the price at which the product is sold to the final consumer. It also includes a trading discount (retailer costs).

External factors in the pricing process include:

1. Consumers.

This factor always occupies a dominant position in modern marketing.

2. Market environment .

This factor is characterized by the degree of competition in the market. It is important to highlight whether the company is an outsider or a leader, whether it belongs to a group of leaders or outsiders.

3. Participants of distribution channels.

At this stage, the price is affected by both suppliers and intermediaries. Moreover, it is important to note that the greatest danger to the manufacturer is the increase in energy prices, so the government is trying to control this industry.

The state affects the price through indirect taxes on entrepreneurship, the establishment of antitrust and dumping bans.

Although price is changing in the market, marketers premarketfully identify four basic methods for determining the initial price:

Costly method. The method is based on price orientation on production costs. With this method, the price consists of the cost and some fixed percentage of profit. This method takes into account the goal of the entrepreneur rather than the buyer.

Aggregate method. This method calculates the price as the sum of prices for individual elements of the product, as well as the price of the total (aggregate) block and premiums or discounts for the absence or presence of individual elements.

The parametric method. The essence of this method is that its price is determined from the assessment and the ratio of the qualitative parameters of the product.

Pricing based on current prices. According to this method, the price of a particular product is set depending on the prices of similar products, it can be more or less.

Pricing strategy - this is the choice of the company strategy, which should change the initial price of the goods with maximum success for him, in the process of conquering the market. It should be distinguished various strategies depending on the product (new or existing).

The strategy involves first selling the goods at a very high price for that segment of society that does not care about financial collapse, then the price gradually decreases to the level of the middle class, and then to the level of mass consumption.

The price increase strategy is effective only when the demand for products is growing steadily, competition is minimized, and the buyer recognizes the product.

There are also strategies for the strong implementation of the moving price and the preferential price.

The market, of course, affects the manufacturer and makes him adjust the price by various methods. Marketers have identified eight basic methods for price correction, which helps the entrepreneur to choose the most optimal and reduce costs.

The manufacturer can set a flexible price for the goods depending on the time or place of sale. You can also set a standard price, but at the same time slightly change the quality of the product.

Pricing methods for market segments differ mainly in the consumer segment.

When using the psychological method of pricing, an entrepreneur (mainly a retailer) relies on the psychology of the buyer. The simplest example is the price in catalogs (99 90   rub., which is almost 100 rub.).

Stepwise differentiation method marketers identify such steps (gaps) between prices, within which consumer demand remains unchanged.

The method of redistributing assortment costs takes into account the diversity of the assortment of the same product, which leads to low costs, but a significant increase in price.

IN the method of redistribution of inventory costs, the entrepreneur pre-sets a low price for the main product, but higher for related products.

Flanking method - payment for the transportation of goods from seller to buyer. Here the price is made up of the cost of goods, real transportation costs and profits.

The discount method is used to stimulate sales of products. Discounts can be both due to the quantity of the purchased goods, and for the previous payment.

So, when determining the price, when predicting its further change, when adjusting it, it is very important for the entrepreneur not only to miscalculate, but also to raise the price, which can directly affect the demand and attitude of buyers to the company. Therefore, marketers analyze all changes and develop strategies for setting and adjusting prices, which contribute to increased profitability and efficiency.

It should also be noted the sales system of goods at the enterprise. In the marketing policy, marketers touch upon the choice of the most optimal sales channel, the method of marketing the product, which, when used effectively, will undoubtedly increase the company's profit.

One of the points of the company's sales policy is the choice of the optimal sales channel. The channel of distribution (distribution) of goods is an organization or a person engaged in the promotion and exchange of a particular product (several groups of goods) in the market.

In most cases, sales of products are carried out through intermediaries, each of which forms an appropriate distribution channel. The use of intermediaries in the field of circulation is beneficial, first of all, for manufacturers. In this case, they have to deal with a limited circle of interested parties in the sale of products. In addition, the wide availability of goods is ensured when moving directly to the market. With the help of intermediaries, it is possible to reduce the number of direct contacts of producers with consumers of products.

Supply and sales organizations, large wholesale bases, exchange structures, trading houses and shops can act as intermediaries. Among the main reasons for the use of intermediaries are the following:

the organization of the product distribution process requires the availability of certain financial resources;

the creation of an optimal system of goods distribution requires the availability of relevant knowledge and experience in the field of the market for their goods, methods of trade and distribution;

Thanks to their contacts, experience and specialization, intermediaries allow ensuring the wide availability of goods and bringing them to target markets.

Enterprises in a market economy pay considerable attention to the problems of optimizing the process of moving goods from producer to consumer. The results of their business activities largely depend on how correctly selected distribution channels for goods, forms and methods of their marketing, on the breadth of the range and quality of services provided by the company related to the sale of products.

The distribution channel takes over and helps to transfer to someone else the ownership of a particular product or service on the way from the producer to the consumer. The distribution channel can also be interpreted as a way of moving goods from producers to consumers. Distribution channel participants perform a number of functions that contribute to the successful resolution of marketing requirements. These include functions such as: conducting research and development, promoting sales, establishing contacts with potential consumers, manufacturing goods in accordance with the requirements of customers, transportation and storage of goods, financing issues, taking responsibility for the operation of the distribution channel.

Distribution channels can be of three types: direct, indirect and mixed.

Direct channels are associated with the movement of goods and services without the participation of intermediary organizations. They are most often established between manufacturers and consumers, who themselves control their marketing program and have limited target markets.

Indirect channels are associated with the movement of goods and services, first from the manufacturer to an unfamiliar intermediary participant, and then from him to the consumer. Such channels usually attract enterprises and firms that, in order to increase their markets and sales volumes, agree to abandon many marketing functions and costs, and accordingly, a certain share of sales control, and are also ready to somewhat weaken contacts with consumers.

Mixed channels combine the features of the first two channels of distribution. Thus, the enterprises of the machine-building complex make little use of the advantages of direct contacts with suppliers; they sell products through a system of intermediaries. Other state and commercial intermediary organizations and enterprises arise, guaranteeing a much larger range of supply and marketing services.

Thus, it is clear that the company requires significant skill in conducting its marketing policy. It should also be noted when it is important to develop your own retail network. This is advisable if the quantity of the goods is large enough to justify the costs of organizing the distribution network, if the consumers are close enough to the company and their small amount, since the costs of organizing the network will be small if the goods require highly qualified service, etc.

It was not for nothing that the notion of a product distribution channel was considered above. With this concept, the concepts of the length and width of the distribution channel are related.

The length of the sales channel is the number of participants in the sales process, that is, the number of intermediaries in the entire sales chain. There are several levels of length, the simplest of which are as follows: producer - retailer - consumer and manufacturer - wholesaler - retailer - consumer. This includes the concept of a wholesale distribution method.

The width of the sales channel is the number of independent objects of the sales process at a certain stage, for example, the number of wholesalers of goods

The wholesale method of marketing goods, covers essentially the entire totality of commodity resources, which are both means of production and commodities. As a rule, in wholesale trade, goods are purchased in large quantities. Wholesale purchases are made by intermediary organizations for the purpose of subsequent resale to grass-roots wholesale organizations, retail enterprises. In most cases, wholesale is not related to the sale of products to specific end consumers, i.e. it allows manufacturers, through intermediaries, to sell products with minimal direct contact with consumers. In the commodity market, wholesale is an active part of the scope of circulation.

In addition, wholesale is an important lever for maneuvering material resources, helps to reduce excess product inventories at all levels and eliminates product shortages, and takes part in the formation of regional and industry product markets. Through wholesale trade, the consumer’s influence on the producer is intensified, there are real opportunities to achieve a correspondence between supply and demand, to provide each consumer with the opportunity to purchase products within their financial capabilities and in accordance with their needs.

In turn, the manufacturer selects the consumer himself, which means he must determine the assortment and volumes of products produced for the market based on the prevailing market conditions.

Wholesale trade is a form of relations between enterprises, organizations, in which the economic relations for the supply of products are formed by the parties independently. It affects the system of economic relations between regions, industries, determines the ways of moving goods in the country, due to which the territorial division of labor is improved, proportionality is achieved in the development of regions.

For a rational distribution of the trading environment, wholesale trade should have specific data on the current state and future changes in situations in regional and industry markets. The main objectives of the wholesale trade are:

marketing research of the market, supply and demand for industrial and technical products and consumer goods;

placing production of goods in the assortment necessary for the consumer, quantity and with appropriate quality;

timely, complete and rhythmic provision of goods in a wide range of intermediary, retail enterprises, consumers;

organization of storage of inventories;

organization of a planned and rhythmic import and export of goods;

ensuring the priority of the consumer, enhancing its economic impact on the supplier, depending on the reliability of economic relations, the quality of the products supplied;

ensuring the stability of partnerships in economic relations, interconnection in all time categories (long-term, medium-term, current, operational);

the organization of the planned delivery of goods from the regions of production to the area of \u200b\u200bconsumption;

widespread use of economic methods for regulating the entire system of relationships between suppliers, intermediaries, consumers: reducing the total costs associated with the promotion of goods from manufacturers to consumers.

The participants of the latter are closely related to the concept of wholesale trade, such as: broker, commission agent, dealer, trading agent. The wholesale method of distribution of goods is widespread in many countries of the world, and for intercountry trade is, of course, the only one. From the foregoing about wholesale trade, we can conclude that it belongs to an indirect marketing method, a method in which manufacturers use the services of various intermediaries to reach consumers.

Also in the process of product distribution from manufacturers to consumers, the final link closing the chain of economic relations is retail. In retail trade, material resources move from the sphere of circulation to the sphere of collective, individual, personal consumption, i.e. become the property of consumers. This happens through purchase and sale, as consumers acquire the goods he needs in exchange for their cash income. Here, starting opportunities are created for a new cycle of production and circulation, since the goods are converted into money.

Retail trade includes the sale of goods to the public for personal consumption, organizations, enterprises, institutions for collective consumption or household needs. The goods are sold mainly through retail and catering establishments. At the same time, the sale of consumer goods is carried out from the warehouses of manufacturers, intermediary organizations, company stores, procurement points, workshops, ateliers, etc. Retail trade has a number of functions:

examines the situation prevailing in the commodity market;

determines the demand and supply for specific types of goods;

searches for goods needed for retail;

carries out the selection of goods, their sorting in the preparation of the required assortment;

pay for goods received from suppliers;

carries out operations for the acceptance, storage, labeling of goods, sets prices for them;

provides forwarding, consulting, advertising, information and other services to suppliers and consumers.

Retail trade, taking into account the specifics of customer service, is divided into stationary, mobile, and parcels.

The stationary distribution network is the most widespread, it includes both large modern, technically equipped shops, as well as stalls, tents, kiosks, and vending machines. At the same time, self-service stores are distinguished, in which the buyer has free access to goods. A variety of stationary trade are also stores of the “store-warehouse” type; the goods in them are not laid out on display cases, shelves, which significantly reduces the cost of loading, unloading, stacking, so they are sold at lower prices. Such stores operate, as a rule, on the outskirts of large cities.

Catalog stores are being created. Such trade is based on pre-selection of goods. Catalogs can be handed out to potential customers who have visited this store, or sent to them by mail. The buyer, having studied the catalogs, having selected the goods, sends the order indicating his details to the store by mail (or by teletype, by phone). The store decides to ship the goods to the buyer. If there is a showroom in the store, the buyer can make an absentee order from the catalog or visit the store and personally choose the product he needs.

Considerable potential has the organization of the sale of goods through vending machines. They are convenient in that they can work around the clock, without sales staff. Automatic machines are installed inside the store or outside it. The subject of trade is usually a certain range of consumer goods (drinks, sandwiches. Chewing gum, cigarettes, stationery, postal envelopes, postcards, etc.).

A mobile trading network helps bring goods closer to the customer and ensures their prompt service. This trade can be carried out using automatic machines, shop-wagons, and also distributed using trays and other simple devices. A variation of this type of trade is direct sale at home. At the same time, sales agents of manufacturers of marketing, intermediary and trading enterprises supply and sell products directly to the buyer.

The parcel trade is providing the population, enterprises, organizations with books, stationery, audio and video recordings, radio and television equipment, and medicines. Using this form of trade, consumers can also receive certain products for industrial purposes (spare parts, tools, rubber products, etc.).

The retail structure takes into account the assortment attribute. Goods are usually grouped into appropriate groups (subgroups) based on industrial origin or consumer destination. In retail, in this regard, there are various types of stores.

Specialized stores sell goods of one particular group (furniture, radio products, electrical goods, shoes, fabrics, clothes, milk, etc.).

Highly specialized stores sell goods that are part of a product group (subgroup) (men's clothing, work clothes, silk fabrics, etc.).

Combined stores sell goods of several groups (subgroups) that reflect the commonality of demand or satisfy the corresponding circle of consumers (cultural goods, books, etc.).

Department stores sell products of many product groups in specialized sections.

Mixed stores sell products of various groups, both food and non-food, without forming specialized sections.

So, the marketing policy of the enterprise is also aimed at increasing the efficiency of the company, since all marketing efforts to improve profitability are finally manifested in the marketing sphere, adapting the marketing network to the consumer, the company has more chances to survive in the competition, in this area the entrepreneur is closer to the buyer .

Promotion is understood as a combination of various types of activities for bringing information about the merits of a product to potential consumers and stimulating their desire to buy it. Modern organizations use sophisticated communication systems to maintain contacts between intermediaries, customers, various social organizations and layers.

Product promotion is carried out by using a certain proportion of advertising, methods of sales promotion (sales), personal sales and methods of public relations.

“Advertising is a printed, handwritten, oral or graphic information about a person, product, services or social movement, openly coming from the advertiser and paid for by him with the aim of increasing sales, expanding the clientele, gaining votes or public approval.” In modern conditions, advertising is a necessary element of production and marketing activities, a way to create a sales market, an active means of struggle for the market. Due to its functions, advertising is called the engine of trade.

As part of marketing, advertising should: firstly, prepare the market (consumer) for a favorable perception of a new product; secondly, to maintain demand at a high level at the stage of mass production of goods; thirdly, to expand the market. Depending on the stage of the product’s life cycle, the scale and intensity of advertising, the relationship between prestigious advertising (advertising of an exporting company, the competence of its staff, etc.) and commodity (that is, advertising for a particular product) change; the ways of its distribution are also changing, its arguments are being updated, more recent, more original ideas are being selected.

Although the cost of advertising is significant, especially when publishing ads in the foreign press, participating in exhibitions and fairs, etc., these costs are justified. Firstly, the funds allocated for advertising are included in the calculation of the price of the goods, and the sale of their corresponding amount compensates for the costs. Secondly, without advertising, trade, as a rule, is sluggish, brings losses, often many times higher than advertising costs. As international practice shows, advertising costs make up an average of 1.5-2.5% of the cost of goods sold for production and 5-15% for household goods.

Preparation of advertising materials is a complex and responsible business requiring special knowledge and considerable practice. It is necessary to learn the truth that the potential consumer makes the first impression of our exporting company in the skill of advertising, the quality of advertising texts and photographs and unwittingly, unconsciously transfers his opinion about the quality of advertising to the goods we produce. To change this opinion for the better, you will have to spend a lot of work and money. Therefore, advertising must be impeccable, otherwise it turns into its opposite - "anti-advertising."

It is strongly necessary to refute the conventional wisdom that a good product does not need advertising. On the contrary, only a good, competitive product needs advertising, and the most intensive one, and advertising a product of poor quality leads to enormous economic costs and the loss of the good name of the enterprise. In this case, it will take years and millions to restore reputation.

Sales promotion (sales) are short-term incentive measures that promote the sale or sale of products and services. If the advertisement calls for: "Buy our product," then the sales promotion is based on the call: "Buy it now." You can consider sales promotion in more detail, bearing in mind that it includes: stimulating consumers, stimulating trade and stimulating marketers of the organization itself.

Stimulating consumers is aimed at increasing their purchases. The following basic methods are used: providing samples for testing; use of coupons, return of part of the price or trade discount; package sales at reduced prices; Prizes advertising souvenirs; promotion of regular customers; contests, sweepstakes and games that give the consumer a chance to win something - money, goods, travel; expositions and demonstrations of signboards, posters, samples, etc. in places where products are sold.

Exhibitions and fairs have a prominent place in marketing. Their important advantage is the opportunity to present goods to customers in their original form, as well as in action. In any case, visitors come to the pavilions with a clear intention to learn something new for themselves, and this attitude actively contributes to the introduction of new goods and services on the market. Personal contacts between standmen (representatives of the seller) and potential buyers allow creating an atmosphere of trust and goodwill, which contributes to the development of business relations. An exhibitor company (exhibiting samples of its products) can make presentations at symposia usually held as part of an exhibition (fair), distribute print ads, show films or television films, give advertising packages, handbags, folders, etc. Skillful exhibition activity plays no less, and sometimes more, role than publishing advertisements in the press about industrial goods.

However, the work at the exhibition will be effective only if it is carried out strictly according to plan and purposefully. Specialists at the stand should clearly understand for what commercial goals the company (enterprise) is participating in the exhibition, and do everything in their power to achieve this goal.

Personal sale is understood as an oral presentation of a product with the aim of selling it in a conversation with one or several potential buyers. This is the most effective tool for promoting a product at certain stages of its marketing, especially to create a favorable attitude among customers for the offered products, primarily for industrial products. However, this is the most expensive promotion method. American companies spend three times more on personal sales than on advertising.

In our country, this method is currently compromised by representatives of various "wholesale companies". Representatives of the Canadian Wholesale Company have already become a byword. On the doors of many institutions are hanging announcements that representatives of the above and similar companies are not allowed.

Communication with the public involves creating good relations with various state and public structures and layers by creating a favorable opinion about the company, its products and by neutralizing adverse events and rumors. Communication with the public also includes communication with the press, disseminating information about the company’s activities, lobbying in legislative and government bodies with the aim of making or canceling certain decisions, and explanatory work regarding the company's position, its products, and social role.

So, marketing also considers a promotion policy that promotes maximum sales of goods, which helps the entrepreneur better find out the preferences of the buyer and choose the most effective type of promotion. Without the knowledge of promotion techniques, it is impossible for a modern company to survive, because without advertising (one of the methods of promotion), not only will no one know about it.

The main task of the marketing service is to determine the company's place in the market and find opportunities to take the most advantageous position in relation to competitors. This division serves as a buffer between the external environment - the market and the internal environment - the company. The result of the work of marketers is an increase in sales, which is considered the main indicator in evaluating the work of the marketing department.

In order for the marketing department to successfully implement its tasks, it is necessary to determine its place and authority in the existing organizational structure. The most effective structure is where the marketing department coordinates the work of the sales and advertising departments. In this case, marketers set tasks for advertisers and determine the direction of their activities, and they help sales managers to sell goods (services) through their activities.

Let us consider in more detail the main functions that a marketing department in an enterprise should perform.

1. Planning marketing activities.

When drawing up a marketing plan, the company's development strategy is first of all formulated. As part of this strategy, the main task is set for the marketing department (for example, access to the regions). It determines the time period during which the company needs to implement it, as well as the amount of financing. After that, the marketing department breaks down the main task into smaller ones, develops measures for their implementation and draws up a general plan, which must be approved by the head of the company. The usual planning term is one year. Then quarterly plans are written in more detail, and marketers, within the framework of the approved plans and budgets, quickly prepare each marketing event.

In terms of marketing activities in general and in the description of each task of the department, the expected result of future events should be indicated. For example, if the goal is to increase sales, it should be determined how much sales in monetary terms are planned to be achieved by the results of a marketing campaign.

2. Market research

In order to see their capabilities on the market, you need to have an idea of \u200b\u200bits main components. The market can be studied in two ways: collecting and analyzing customer information and exploring competitors.

Collection and analysis of customer information. The most effective way to study the consumer is through the joint efforts of the marketing and sales departments. The burden of collecting information rests with the sales managers. For example, marketers develop questionnaires, and sales managers collect information through them throughout their work with clients. Based on the questionnaires, the marketing department then adjusts both the company's actions in the market and the work with clients within the company.

Collection and analysis of information about competitors. In addition to the marketing department, this task is carried out by the sales department, security service, and sometimes other departments are involved (depending on the specifics of the business). The task of the marketing department is not so much collecting data about competitors as organizing the flow of information. Relevant information can be found both on the market and within the company (for example, units that can provide the necessary information). The marketing department should be able (after agreement with the management) to set tasks for other departments of the company and motivate the employees involved.

With regard to external information, our marketing department regularly reviews print publications, websites of companies operating in our market segment make visits to competitors. If something noticeable happens to someone, then marketers are sure to take this into account and sometimes use it in their work. Competitive price monitoring is ongoing. Pricing information is provided by the sales department; marketers analyze it and issue a weekly report in the form of charts, graphs in a specially designed program.

3. Pricing.

The marketing department must be involved in the formation of pricing policy. The close interaction between the financial service and marketers is very important here. Economists bid based on cost, and marketers based on market prices, competitor pricing policies, and company concept. The task of the marketing department is to find a price at which competitors will not be able to oust the company from the market and at the same time, the customer’s understanding of the quality of the goods will not change for the worse.

4. Positioning.

The positioning of the company (product) is carried out based on a compiled portrait of the consumer and analysis of competitors. The task of the marketing department is to develop a set of measures, thanks to which the company (product) will take its own, distinct from competitors and advantageous place on the market. Marketers must find, see (or come up with) a unique feature of the company (product). The marketing department needs to clearly understand how his company differs from other market players, which will make the client choose her. So, at the same prices for the same product, the decisive role will be played by service or payment terms (for example, deferred payment).

5. Assortment policy.

The product range is formed depending on the needs of the market, the financial condition of the enterprise and its strategic goals. The task of the marketing department is to identify (as a result of customer differentiation) which products and in what period of time are most in demand.

6. Development of new ideas.

A marketing department that studies market trends and understands its needs should be a generator of ideas to help develop new products. The task of marketers is to convey to the company what qualities the created product should have. Together with the technology department, sales, development and other marketing departments, it is necessary to hold round tables on new products. Long before the appearance of a product, marketers need to develop its design (for example, packaging), a distribution system, and consider an advertising campaign.

7. Increasing sales.

To increase sales, the marketing department should:

• - organize and manage advertising activities;
• - carry out activities to promote the goods;
• - maintain customer loyalty.

Organization and management of promotional activities. Sometimes the marketing department and the advertising department are different divisions with different managers. Sometimes this is one department, and its employees are divided into advertisers and marketers; this division may not be - much depends on the specifics of the business and the scale of the company. In any case, advertising without marketing does not work. The task of the marketing department is to set a goal and set the direction of advertising.

After the advertising campaign, the marketing department needs to analyze it. The analysis can be provided by the advertising department, or marketers do it themselves, but in any case, the report on advertising activity should go through the marketing service.

Promotion activities. Promotion includes everything that is not included in the advertisement, but contributes to the promotion of the company (product) in the market and, ultimately, increases sales. This includes the so-called BTL technology. . There is a legend about the origin of the term BTL (from the English, below the line - below the line). Around the middle of the last century, one of the leaders of a large company made an estimate of upcoming marketing expenses. Including standard elements in it (advertising in the press, on television and radio, the development of new packaging, etc.), he calculated the costs, drew a line and suddenly remembered that he did not take into account the distribution of free samples of goods and the costs of organizing a city holiday, where people will try the products manufactured by his company. I had to add these numbers below, that is, under the line. Since then, traditional or direct advertising has been called ATL (from the English, above the line - above the line), and other methods of sales promotion - BTL.

Promotion methods also include the organization of seminars, conferences, round tables, marketing campaigns, the organization and holding of exhibitions, sales, etc.

The task of marketers is to choose the tool that is more suitable for this business, and determine how to use it to realize the task. The basis of the department’s work is the search for interesting (sometimes unconventional) moves that allow not only to increase sales, but also to establish itself as a company that is not like the others.

Customer loyalty support. The task of the marketing service is not only to attract the client, but also to keep him: no matter how effective the advertising and promotion are, they are meaningless without the organization of work with clients. To do this, the marketing department is developing loyalty programs. A loyal customer is a customer who recommends your company to his friends, acquaintances, and himself, if necessary, re-contacts you.

The organization of work in this area (customer retention) also requires the training of company personnel and the creation of an environment within the enterprise that is maximally customer-oriented. Marketers must work with all the services that contact customers. First of all, it is a sales department ;, a service (technical support) service, a delivery service.

In our company, the marketing department evaluates the work of all client departments on a five-point scale. Competence, promptness of service, courtesy, appearance, punctuality of employees are taken into account. If the assessment is lower than “five”, the marketing service contacts the appropriate department and finds out the reasons for the deterioration in the quality of work.

8. Analysis of marketing activities.

A marketing event can be considered completed when the marketing department presents a report on its implementation. This document should contain the results (how many new customers have attracted, how much sales have increased, how much revenue has grown), as well as the tools with which the results were achieved (advertising campaigns, promotion, other marketing activities). For long-term events, it is advisable for the Director-General to receive interim reports showing the dynamics of development. If the growth of orders falls or slows down, the marketing department must determine at what stage the company loses customers: for example, the number of initial calls has decreased or the number of repeated calls for ordering goods has decreased. If, for example, the number of orders decreases, the marketing department should analyze the work with clients within the company. The reason may be a lack of managers or insufficient qualifications of employees to handle more than usual number of calls.

Typically, the work of the marketing department is estimated by the number of customer requests, by the number of repeat requests for orders and, ultimately, by the amount of revenue brought as a result of sales growth. Other indicators may be key, depending on the specifics of the business. In each case, it is necessary to evaluate how well the marketing plan and the tasks set in it have been completed. To evaluate the activities of the marketing department, you need a marketing plan, which was described at the beginning of the chapter.

) we talked about the relevance of strategic planning for our enterprises. Today we will talk about the functions and purpose of the marketing department, the common stereotypes of marketing perception and the reasons for this.

The company's plans are drawn up on the basis of resources, primarily human resources. In order to develop and implement a marketing strategy, you need a staff of initiative people with special knowledge and experience to implement such programs. And in order for the knowledge and experience of specialists to be useful for the company, it is necessary to distinguish their functions, clearly define goals and objectives. At the same time, in the Ukrainian market one can often observe a lack of understanding of the purpose and functions of the marketing department, their differences, for example, from the functions of the sales department.

We list the key goals and objectives of the marketing department, which today are in demand by Ukrainian enterprises.

First of all, you should not start the formation of a marketing department, like any other department, only with the aim of creating jobs or following the fashion. A marketing department needs to be created only when there are specific tasks. Often, practice indicates the artificial creation of a marketing department. This situation, as a rule, ends with the fact that sooner or later the employees of this department either are transferred to other departments and the marketing department is abolished, or the company management concludes that the increase in sales is the result of the actions of marketing specialists, and then marketers become top managers and leading sales managers. This is not entirely true, because the main task of marketers is to maintain the market orientation of the enterprise. And if the marketing department is engaged in sales management, then in this case, tactical activity does not allow to carefully study and evaluate external factors, the company's position in the market.

The activities of the marketing department are aimed at achieving the general goals of the enterprise, including economic issues and prospects for the development of the enterprise. Based on this, the goal of the marketing department is to develop recommendations in the following areas:

determination of the sales policy of the enterprise, taking into account available resources and existing market dynamics;

coordination of the work of all divisions of the enterprise related to sales.

The recommendations of the marketing department regarding market orientation, after approval by the management, should be binding on all services of the enterprise. But often, plans developed by the marketing department and approved by management are placed in a safe and end their lives there. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurrence. In fact, the enterprise “buried” enormous potential in the ground: marketers study the market, process huge amounts of information, develop plans. As a result, those developments that were made by marketers, those financial resources that were spent on market research, not only do not bring benefits to the enterprise, but also become “waste” of money. And the enterprise continues its movement based solely on intuition, old habits and past experience, not noticing the opportunities that are opening up, often inadequately and untimely responding to emerging dangers, giving its more efficient competitors the opportunity to use themselves to achieve their goals.

What are the principles and working methods of the marketing department at the enterprise?

All departments are required to provide the marketing department with any information about the results of their activities. In turn, the marketing department is obliged to provide divisions with the information that they need for market orientation. The joint effect of actions resulting from the exchange of information is very important. This allows the company to successfully achieve its goals. The marketing department does not replace or duplicate other divisions; it was created only to orient the activities of all divisions of the company on the needs of the market, in order to timely adjust their work and interactions between divisions taking into account market interests. This is especially true today, when the marketing services at the enterprises are still very young and the heads of the marketing departments can not always accurately set specific, quantitatively measured goals and objectives, evaluate the result of the work performed by the marketing department.

Recall that strategic and tactical marketing are two different directions in their tasks. If strategic marketing is in the competence of the first or second person of the company, then the marketing department in this case is assigned the role of an executor. Key tasks are market analysis, development of interim plans, various models of enterprise development, development of market segments, determination of key market positions, assessment of competitors and consumers. All these are the tasks of strategic analysis, on the basis of which strategic planning is born, and it is the first persons of the company who are directly involved in this work. The marketing department in this case provides the management with complete information about the realities of the market, how successful the enterprise is, what difficulties may arise if measures are not taken in a timely manner.

As for tactical planning, in this case, the marketing department acts as a service coordinating the work of units so that the developed plans are implemented.

In this case, the marketing department carries out the controlling function and answers the questions: how do the departments move towards the goal, how does the company work in the market, how do one or another customer’s preferences change, how different products on the market “feel”, how profitable they are today, in what phase of the life cycle is this or that product.

The main tasks of the marketing department are as follows:

1. Assessment of market conditions and continuous analysis of the results of the enterprise’s commercial activity, as well as factors affecting the operation of the enterprise.

2. Development of sales forecasts and market share of the enterprise.

3. Carrying out situational market analysis.

4. The development, together with other divisions and management of the enterprise, of the goals and strategies of market activity in both the domestic and foreign markets.

5. Development of commodity and pricing policies.

6. The choice of rational distribution channels and methods of promoting products.

7. Development for the enterprise as a whole and for individual product groups of long-term and current marketing plans and coordination of the business unit in this area.

8. Providing the enterprise and all its divisions with marketing information (market information).

The image of an enterprise is mainly determined by the quality and quantity of contacts with external organizations. In this regard, the development of recommendations for establishing and organizing contacts with various organizations, and sometimes the functions of representing the enterprise in its relations with other organizations, may be performed by the marketing department. Of course, the order and level of competence in carrying out such work is determined by the management of the enterprise. This gives confidence that the marketing department systematically and consistently pursues the planned policy aimed at creating the appropriate image of the enterprise in the eyes of consumers, suppliers and partners.

Often at the enterprises there is such a phenomenon as the combination of sales and marketing services. This can be explained by the fact that the marketing service, as a rule, is staffed by specialists in the sales department. In this regard, I would like to draw attention to the fact that the main function of a sales service is distribution and direct sale. Very often they are expected to provide market analysis, market assessments, sales forecasts, etc. from the sales service, but this is not typical of the sales department, as its employees are not able to perform these functions due to lack of time and lack of certain knowledge.

The functions of the sales department, therefore, are concentrated around the sales process and related communications, as well as the formation and provision of analytical information on sales. As soon as a competent separation of sales functions and marketing functions occurs, then in one and the other service, as practice shows, an amazing acceleration is found, because if specialists are aimed at fulfilling their direct duties, their work efficiency increases several times.

There are several stereotypes regarding the purpose of the marketing service. These stereotypes, in turn, dictate certain rules for managing the marketing department of the enterprise.

The first stereotype - “narrow window” (this and the following terms were proposed by Professor Yu.D. Krasovsky), is associated with the understanding of marketing as one of the management functions. This means that marketing is not given a determining, coordinating and guiding value in the formation of the management system. And then the head of the marketing department is not a top manager, but a middle manager.

The second stereotype is the “floating octopus”. A marketing service is often perceived by managers as a tool with which they try to probe the entire market and draw general conclusions for everyone in the form of “wishes”. If such an approach is formed, then very often the conclusions are rejected, because, as a rule, they are perceived as useful tips or recommendations, and not as instructions for performing specific tasks. In such cases, marketing information is presented more likely as probabilistic rather than reliable; deviations of forecast values \u200b\u200bare interpreted by specialists who do not have special knowledge as something that cannot be relied on, which cannot be trusted. Naturally, managers, when receiving recommendations in which tasks and algorithms of actions are not very clearly defined, prefer to rely mainly on themselves, on intuition, on their own experience.

The considered stereotypes indicate that many enterprises still underestimate the role of the marketing service in improving the efficiency of the enterprise.

Two other stereotypes are based on a reassessment of the capabilities of marketing and marketing services.

The first stereotype is called the all-seeing eye. Marketing in this role is perceived as something great, completely covering the market, a miracle is expected from it. This stereotype is quite insidious, because the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

The second stereotype associated with high expectations and reassessment of the capabilities of the marketing service is “annoying fly.” Such a perception of the marketing or marketing service is possible in a situation where managers are forced to admit that the calculations, developments, and calculations that were made by marketers are really reliable and accurate. But sometimes managers cannot put marketing experts' recommendations into practice, because, as it turns out, in order to fulfill the tasks that were set for the staff, it is necessary to gain new experience, new knowledge, make additional efforts, sometimes spend more time. And then they try to dismiss marketers to avoid new actions for themselves, continuing to work as they used to. The marketing service, in turn, is trying to change these habits in order to form a completely new holistic feedback management from the external environment. On the one hand, everyone recognizes that this is necessary, and on the other hand, it is a kind of heavy duty.

The appearance of stereotypes is due to the fact that specialists do not fully understand the essence, purpose and capabilities of the marketing service, at the same time insufficient attention is paid to the training of marketers in educational institutions. Often, marketers are carried away by one-sided economic indicators or, conversely, motivational factors. All these reasons led to the situation when the marketing service during its formation in the enterprise experiences certain difficulties. At the same time, it is encouraging that those companies that have passed the stage of formation of a marketing service at an enterprise have been able to determine the criteria by which the effectiveness of a marketing service is measured, and to determine quantitative, temporary and financial indicators. The speed of these companies in the market today is quite high, which translates into greater profits than competitors.

Victoria Kidon

“No matter how good you are, dexterous and lucky, your business and his fate are in the hands of the people you hire.”

Akio Morita, founder of SONY. Annual turnover of $ 86 billion.

Since the relatively recent time in the world economy, a new time has come - the time of the consumer. In order to succeed in a highly competitive market, it is not enough to understand the needs of the end customer. It is necessary to act in advance. It becomes more profitable for race participants to produce a high-quality differentiated product, the cost of which will be relatively low, and it will be sold in huge quantities. And it is precisely due to the high commitment to the brand and the huge sales volumes that these companies continue to operate quite successfully. When developing a marketing plan for such products, it is worth considering the enormous competition and diversity in this market segment, as well as the incredible speed of change. Accordingly, much more effort is required to overcome competition and bring the product to higher positions in the desired market segment. The new economy requires making decisions in a new way - faster, bolder, more active.

There are many books on how to make a million. Did it help many? How to really form an incubator of marketing ideas - no, not to declare it at the meeting, but really go and do it? Those directors who are younger naively try to master the brainstorming tools. Go to the marketing department and look at the floor. The floors of Russian companies are strewn with dead ideas ...

It is not brainstorming that gives rise to ideas that blow up the market, but an attitude towards marketing. Everyone, every manager, and the general director is responsible for this attitude.

It will be difficult for Russian companies to abandon the traditional paramilitary governance structure. It is difficult for us to imagine a CEO who gives up his tight control, paralyzing everything and everyone in the company, up to the approval of office paper invoices and layouts of tiny advertisements. It’s hard for us to imagine a CEO who is thinking about owning a market, not about owning equipment and factories. And you have to. Because it is the new marketing-oriented, small, rapidly changing companies that gain an advantage over the old-mode, albeit large ones. Remember where the mega-brands of the nineties are now: Invite +, Love is, Flagship, Doshirak. Where is such a colossus on the clay feet of the food industry as the “Russian Product”? In the FMCG market, they are already a myth. All of them were struck by acute marketing failure. Charles Darwin said: "It is not the strongest or the smartest that survives, but the most susceptible to change."

Creation of marketing departments

How to create a marketing department in your company, who should be hired, why is there such a big turnout in marketing departments, what are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them, are “personnel really solving everything”?

The staff turnover in the marketing departments of Russian companies has become a byword - has become the subject of mandatory questions during a job interview. There are several constantly encountered mistakes when recruiting staff in marketing departments. Let's look at those that are sure to meet in your work.

There is no understanding of the real functionality of the employees of the marketing department. This is because there is a big gap between scientific theory, built mainly on Western models of management, and the realities of Russian business. So, in Russian companies, the strategic marketing almost always takes over the managing owner. The functions of tactical marketing are reduced starting from the organization of advertising, smoothly flowing into the mythical support of sales, and then they all fade away at the stage of preparing business cards.

Thus, the manager finds himself between the desired theoretical functionality, unfortunately not implemented in most companies at this stage of the enterprise’s development, and the actual one: “girl - give it, bring it, go out.” In order to make it easier for you to consider the possible functionality of the marketing department, I have prepared a diagram illustrating possible directions. First, you should always decide on the functionality, structure, and only then look at the candidates. In Russian companies, it is often recruitment and interviews that are conducted first. And then they carry out the calculation of the wage fund, decide on the effectiveness of the unit.

The above diagram shows the most complete version of the structure and functionality of the marketing department. It will be better if you create it in stages. Of course, correlating with the available capabilities. The most correct way to form a department is to have an approved strategic marketing plan based on specific marketing tasks, and not because it is fashionable. Therefore, it is wiser to always start from the position of leader, and not vice versa.

The selection is made on the basis of incorrect selection parameters. When I see the list of requirements for a marketing position, I understand that they plan to release these people into outer space without a spacesuit. Knowledge of French, Spanish and Ethiopian, crawl skills, at least 30 years of experience in business exclusively in a leadership position, at the age of no more than 25 years old - this is far from a complete list of nonsense that I see in published vacancies today. The head of the company approved this list and considers it really important? And by what parameters should be selected? The most dangerous of these parameters are marketing education and product knowledge.

It may seem to you that I am exaggerating excessively, but believe me, the reality is even worse. Look here, what description of the vacancy I found today on the hh website: “Requirements: If the fact that the Revenue of the company directly depends on the Marketing Director is indisputable for you; Thanks to you, the companies in which you worked have become much larger and better selling (and we will verify this); you yourself have successfully sold (preferably services) and will help our customer service managers in this; You are young, active, ambitious, purposeful, ambitious, ready to learn a lot; Are you lucky in life? ... Then you were lucky again - we already really need a person who will lead the promotion in our Company - Marketing Director. We expect that under your leadership the Marketing Department will provide the Company with Effective advertising campaigns giving maximum sales; Effective promotional materials, including leading to an understanding by customers of the value of each of the services and the Company as a whole, and, most importantly, you will be responsible for ensuring that the Company's revenue far exceeds expenses. Interesting?! ... Then respond to the Vacancy! In response, we will send you online tests. At the same time, we will give you the opportunity to do it yourself and prove yourself at each site in the Marketing Department and will pay 25,000 rubles a month until you are ready. ”

I had to shorten the text of this verbiage. I deliberately did not begin to correct spelling errors. It is impossible to correct semantic errors, since in this nonsense it (meaning) is not. It turns out that the main task of the marketing director is to provide advertising materials that are not simple, but that lead to an understanding of value, not simple value, but each. What time! Have you understood anything? Believe me - I copied and did not change a word. As they say, comments are superfluous.

As part of a brief article, there is no way to detail the shortcomings in the level of higher marketing education and the teaching staff of most universities. Now, perhaps, only the lazy one does not throw stones towards the gray-haired teachers of Marxist political economy, who in one night absorbed the basics of a market economy and proclaimed themselves the next morning a guru in the field of marketing. Can you imagine that a certified pilot could not fly, a certified agronomist could not grow wheat? With marketers it is very close.

In my opinion, graduates of home-grown business schools are much more distinguished by arrogance and tediousness than purposefulness and hard work.

And what, by the way, should he be able to and where do they teach this? I want to give specific recommendations. Pay attention to the quantity and quality of further education: courses, trainings. Use the recommendations of company executives and fellow marketers. Do not use the advice of hiring professionals. The latter are interested in you becoming their customers. Product knowledge is the most common mistake in recruiting staff. Consider a specific example. A company manufacturing electronic components enters the market of electrical products for the end consumer, and hires a specialist with an engineering background without experience working with consumer markets. The specialist knows well how to produce these products, but is more likely to not succeed in gaining market share. It is necessary to select specialists not by the likeness of the final product, but by knowledge of the methodologies for working with markets. I could still understand the logic of looking for people from my own industry if the industry was a leader in marketing innovation.

During the selection of personnel I am guided by the concepts of “seed”, “soil” and “climate”. The record harvest in Spain, in the Mediterranean climate, does not at all give you a guarantee even for shoot emergence in permafrost conditions. A resume with an excellent education is just a “seed." A certain genetic potential. This is the amount of education and training that the candidate has invested in his own development. But “soil” and “climate” are the work of personnel and the owner. Unfortunately, human resources departments have turned into a mechanistic department that issues a plan for the number of resumes of candidates matching formal criteria. Sometimes among these criteria - only the size of the salary and experience with the same product, and sometimes even worse - the size of the salary and education. About things like MBTI, the conversation usually doesn’t even go into it. A simplified understanding of the role of HR, a lack of understanding of processes such as induction and familiarization with the corporate culture, a lack of understanding of the resources necessary to carry out various marketing tasks, is guaranteed to lead to staff turnover in the marketing department, as well as to disappointment of management in marketing opportunities in the enterprise . Swam - we know!

Compare your “vision” on the shore. Try to clarify your position as much as possible and find out the candidate’s point of view on key tasks. Ask yourself the key question: How will you feel when this person starts working for your direct competitor? It will be much better if you talk about your expectations from the job candidate. It is possible that your plans for a twofold increase in sales in two weeks are completely unrealistic in your industry, and perhaps sales occur every time before the New Year, regardless of marketing activity. By discussing your expectations with the candidate, you will be able to know your and his grades by key indicators, such as budget, lead time, deadlines. If your estimates differ by more than 30%, you will have to either review your Wishlist or look for other candidates. Want to hire a strong candidate? Be sure to say everything in the key: task - necessary resources - lead time. Do not waste time wasting stories "About your achievements at the previous place of work". These achievements were possible in the conditions of other “soils” and “climate”.

To create a stream of new ideas, an atmosphere is needed so that everyone feels that he has the right to make his proposal. Its creation requires a working environment in which psychological barriers are removed.

Over the course of about twenty years of my work at FMCG, I have been interviewed, probably more than a hundred times (and now I continue to go through them). But in ninety-seven cases out of a hundred, I had to listen to the rants of the head of the enterprise about how he created the company, how wonderful and successful it was and what he thinks about taking over world domination in the near future.

The candidate for the position, apparently, is evaluated on the basis of how convincingly and expressively he showed with nods his approval.

When forming a marketing department, you need to consider many factors. The company’s ability to introduce new specialists to the position, the technical support of specialists, the company's ability to provide a competitive level of remuneration, remoteness from production, the availability of the necessary databases, the involvement of owners, types of employee motivation, the need for relocation, what we outsource and what not, the effectiveness of our own design bureau and many, many others. Your first task when creating a marketing department is to say decisive NO to marketing theorists. Well, if, of course, you do not want your company mired in plans, reports, instructions, presentations, approvals, budgets. Of course, this will not create a single brand, sales will not begin in new regions, you will not learn anything about the consumers of your products and will not get a clear development strategy. Nothing. I recommend that you take a closer look at those marketers who made major mistakes. Why? The answer is obvious (at least to me). They see the target, they shoot. Got it or not, for me the question is secondary. But they charged! They understand where to beat and how! They act, damn it! They act, despite all the obstacles of bureaucracy, lack of budget, lack of support from the leadership, staff turnover, lack of analytical information, etc. They create marketing. They are - this is an action, not a bureaucratic addition to your bookkeeping. Those who did not make mistakes, as a rule, have a very attractive sleek resume, which recruiters like - girls at a tender age.

I am convinced that you, like me, think that mistakes are only an opportunity to start initiatives again, but more competently. Steve Ross (Time Warner) said: "If an employee makes too few mistakes, he must be fired."

Many marketing directors, trying at all costs to stay in office, make a serious mistake. Initially, they give managers hard-to-fulfill promises and thereby doom their very good result to a negative assessment.

Who would I beware of yet? Mathematicians. Those who believe in the existence of a demand formula. Those who think that everything can be calculated need only substitute the coefficients. Higher mathematics and physics are very good and high-precision sciences. The only problem is that marketing does not apply to them. In marketing, the old adage “measured - count done”, unfortunately, takes the form “measured - count invented”. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted!” It's hard to argue with Albert Einstein. Marketing is a way of thinking and attitude to business. Consumer-oriented attitude. Marketing is an almost innate tendency to innovate and thirst for change. The desire to accept the challenge, the desire to learn. Ability to formulate an idea and thoughts. Passion and determination, backed up by my experience and confidence. According to the results of the study (Cooper, K Sawaf, F. Executive EQ. USA. 1997), 82 out of 93 people who received the Nobel Prize in 16 years agreed that intuition played an important role in their discoveries. Marketing is, in the end, a life position aimed at the fact that the main thing in the company is not the boss, but his majesty the consumer. In Russian companies, however, the entire focus of employee behavior is concentrated, as a rule, on what the boss wants, and from here the whole staff is recruited from people "what you please" in an inclined position. Such leaders formed a new class of pseudo-marketers, whose main task is to print business cards to their boss on time, not to ask for a lot of money and quietly wait for a salary. Employment agencies are very fond of these — they have no breaks in their experience.

What distinguishes a solid good marketer from a genius? Only one thing: the ability to see the future. And as you know, the best way to foresee the future is to design it.

Always remember: when you change the head of the marketing department, this means only one thing - EVERYONE will have to wait about six months or more until a new person enters the rhythm and understands the situation. As a smoker describes with pleasure that he enjoys inhaling harmful smoke, and then describes the reasons why he will not smoke anymore, the head describes how he solemnly expelled the parasites-marketers, and now he is looking for a real professional. I would not be sure that in the near future his company will have a breakthrough in the market. This reminds me of a constant desire to find a new diet, a simulator that will help you become fit, or a magic elixir of youth. The doctor in the hospital prescribes treatment and sees what needs to be adjusted if it does not give results. The doctor in the clinic, having written out the prescription, as a rule, does not meet the patient anymore. Hospital doctors are valued much higher. Do not know why?

In 99% of cases, the marketer, six months after the changes, is already outside the company and does not see what impact his initiatives actually had. Failure to effectively complete projects in marketing is one of the reasons for this low reputation of the industry.

According to Spencer Stuart, a Chicago-based recruiting firm, the average tenure of a marketing director is only 23.6 months. The firm also found that if you take one hundred leading American companies, then only 14% of them have marketing directors who have been in office for more than three years, and half of all marketing directors have been in their position for less than a year. The average "cycle" varies depending on the industry, from 10 months in clothing companies to 34.8 months in financial services companies. Greg Welch, senior director of Spencer Stuart and author of the study, warns the recently appointed CMOs, "understand that the wick is already on and the honeymoon does not last longer than a few months."

When they ask me, by what criteria do I select staff to my department. I always answer: "In addition to all of the above, hard work is needed." It is so simple that people are always disappointed to hear such an answer. Kemmons Wilson (the creator of the tourism business who never received a high school diploma) said this well when speaking to the graduates of his school on the occasion of the end of the school year: “I have not received any academic degrees and only worked for half a day my whole life. Perhaps I will advise you to do the same. Work half a day every day. And what exactly is half a day, it doesn’t matter ... the first twelve hours or the second twelve hours. ” We all want to believe in Cinderella, but true marketing success comes only with extensive practical experience. The best marketer is a combination of talent and experience. The fairy put him in the cradle of talent, but he must gain experience on his own. Therefore, marketing is not a field for lazy people.

There is a common phrase "Cadres decide everything." If this were at least partially true, then HR departments would be the most status in the enterprise.

Do you have to pay a lot? Not. You have to pay wisely and efficiently.

Finally, dozens of candidates have been reviewed. Finally, a spark “slipped” and you managed to find a needle in a haystack. (More often, on the contrary: “I blinded him from what was, and then what was, I fell in love.”) You still decided to take a person. It will be immensely sorry if your dreams of global marketing superiority in the market are not fulfilled just because they break into a banal way of life.

When selecting personnel, most Russian companies set themselves the task, as it were, by default: to “squeeze the candidate to the maximum” by salary. Never give these settings to your HR department. Not only have they already screened out candidates by choosing the worst on the resume, so you are also trying to select the worst of the worst at the finish line. The best candidates will definitely refuse when you offer them a lower salary than the one they expected. What savings does the marketing salary save you? Let's say 20, or even 40 thousand rubles. How much can a properly conducted advertising campaign increase sales? If you run a brand with a profitability level twice that of the current indicator? If studies show that it is economically feasible to abandon offices outside the Urals? How much can a company earn or, conversely, save? Perhaps millions of rubles, and possibly tens of millions, it depends on the turnover of your company. The numbers are not comparable.

If you still managed to “squeeze” the candidate (most likely, it was the worst), then now he is still further suppressed (demotivated). I represent the mood that reigns in your marketing department. With this approach to the formation of marketing, I would not put a cent on the future development of your marketing.

The question "How much?" Is discussed quite often. Oh, so sorry. I would rather not discuss “How much?”, But “How?”. In this, in my opinion, lies a huge saving, efficiency and long-term result. Not only how much to pay, but also how to pay?

The question is not in the eyebrow, but in the eye. In this question, I am not afraid to seem to depart from a direct answer. I have no definite answer. At first glance, the most logical recommendation would be: "Pay more." But no. Not so simple. It seems to you that you can qualify for the best personnel in the industry. This is not entirely true. Your status as an employer in the industry is always more important. The higher your reputation as a reliable employer, the more opportunities you have. On the one hand, you have the ability to lure. On the other hand, the question arises - who, where, and how this person will fit into the business system. (Sad experience shows that most likely it will not fit in, but you will lose time guaranteed.) The next question is - how much to pay? 3%? I suppose not. An essential person perceives an increase in income of 25% or more. By the way, how will your acting directors react to the fact that a smart guy has appeared who has not done anything for the company, but is getting twice as much? But I know how! No need to tell. Do you think that salary information can be hidden? Do not be mistaken: what is known to two girls from the accounting department, after some time is known to everyone.

Younger managers think that KPI (Key Performance Indicators), key performance indicators, will solve all problems. True, it seems to me that the words of the poet Galaktion Tabidze define this term much better: "We multiplied nonsense by numbers." Yes, I agree that this is a good help to improve efficiency and evaluate the work of production and sales. What is measurable is feasible blah blah blah (hereinafter - everywhere). But my life showed the fidelity of the converse statement: “Not everything that can be counted matters, and not everything that matters can be counted!” (Sorry, but I didn’t invent it, but A. Einstein.) To a lesser extent degrees, but still it is an effective tool for monitoring and evaluating the work of finance and logistics. Tell me, what kind of KPI will you set for a musician to write a brilliant work, and for an athlete to set a record? (Hundreds of elite SUVs presented to athletes at the last Olympics strongly inspired? It seems that these were the worst results in the entire history of Russia?) I will not even speak about the artist, architect, doctor. Tell me better, which KPI do you install for firefighters? And if a firefighter has already completed a monthly plan to save lives? Apparently, the rest will have to burn alive. But the maximum efficiency KPI achieved in the work of the traffic police. It is there that such clear, measurable indicators (plan for the number of protocols) lead to such incredible work efficiency.

In my practice, KPIs were invariably used not to inspire an employee, but to enable the CEO to freely pay huge sums at the end of the year to his relatives or friends. EVERYTHING, for nothing more. Talk with a consultant who specializes in managing people in companies, ask him if you can actually buy the right behavior.

I see that you still insist that I answer the question: “How much to pay?” I will answer. You will have to pay "on the market." A little less - if the company's reputation is good. Significantly more - if the reputation is useless. Even more if the general is absurd. It is necessary to constantly monitor specialized recruiting sites - they often publish summary tables on salaries.

Here are my tips that will help you pay wisely, and most importantly - do not overpay in vain:

1. Set a fixed salary for the marketer in accordance with the data for your industry. Make an adjustment for the status of the company and the reliability of the employer (for Russian companies, immediately add 20%, do not amuse your vanity).

2. Set annual key goals for the employee. Moreover, the goals should be approved by you only jointly (inseparably) with the "Resources" section. An ideal option is to discuss such a concept as authority: how do you understand it, and how is the future employee. (I draw your attention to the fact that when setting goals, you must first work out the “Strategic Planning of the Company” block and communicate the goals of the company to the employees; otherwise, you will get the situation “swan, cancer and pike.”)

3. It will be much better if the employee himself prepares his goals after a 2-3-month immersion in your "harsh reality", and not on the second day in the company in a state of "traumatic shock". Feel free to say that you expect another from him, if so. It’s better to leave now than after nine months and start the selection from scratch. Goals should never be more than 6. Ideally, if less than 3. Among the goals can be weights. Measurability, reachability, etc. - by itself.

4. Having a very large annual bonus for fulfilling goals is not necessary at all. But the presence of goals and bonuses themselves is mandatory. (Pay attention to the difference.) Practice has shown that in Russian companies the annual bonus is most often a demotivating factor. But in large Western companies, where everything is spelled out and detailed to the maximum, KPIs work successfully. It is mandatory that the size of the annual bonus (if you entered it) when fulfilling the goals should be exciting. Employee, not you! Should a company, in fulfilling all its goals, get such a gap in the market that paying an annual premium will only become a tiny fraction of the profit (and not necessarily for this year)? That would be too easy and understandable. But this happens infrequently. In practice, everything will look much more complicated. Example: marketers introduced a round-the-clock quality hotline of 8,800 throughout the year. Calculate how many years and how much the investment will pay off? Difficult? Almost unrealistic. Unfortunately, in marketing it is “measured” - it always takes the form of “invented”.

5. For some reason, in Russian companies, employees are always dismissed a few months before receiving an annual bonus. Apparently a coincidence.

If the personnel department still persuaded you to go along this unsteady path, then ensure maximum transparency. By the way, I formed effective marketing departments in companies without using such a tool as annual bonuses at all. And I worked in companies where there was such a tool, but all employees of the department were looking for a new job and dreamed of quitting. Interesting fact.

Most companies do all of the above. If you fulfill all five points, then you just got the right to become one of the market players - nothing more. Want to get ahead of your competitors? Here's what you need to do to get around them:

6. Enter the bonus without prior notice. Give a bonus (preferably in the amount of salary) for a good performance of daily work. For example, for a well-prepared exhibition or a stunning result of an advertising campaign. If you cannot find reasons, this is a sign of your incompetence as a leader. There should be from two to three such bonuses during the year - no more! It is important. Give her (so beloved by you) black cash in an envelope - right in your office - right now. The only way!

7. Use motivation trainings. Send semi-annually to training in the specialty: brand manager - on brand architecture, advertising - on the effectiveness of advertising. There are a lot of such trainings now! But most importantly, ask for a list of what will be implemented. This will be a pass to the next training. Do not overdo it - no more than once every four months, otherwise you just will not have time to implement what they will teach there (unfortunately, more bad). For some reason, over the 17 years of my work, I have not met a single leader who would tell subordinates: "Go to training (the company will pay) and put into practice everything that you will be taught there."

8. Actively use non-verbal communication and intangible motivation. The status is manifested not by the size of the salary, but by the workplace under the stairs and parking in the wasteland with stray dogs. Plant marketers on your right. The first question for any sentence is: “How does the marketing department order?” Never use the marketing department either for congratulations on anniversaries, or for preparing a new year, or for moving. This is your intellectual elite, not laborers.

9. Introduce a democratic style of behavior and work in the marketing department. To create a stream of new ideas, an atmosphere is needed so that everyone feels that he has the right to make his proposal. Its creation requires a working environment in which psychological barriers are removed. You don’t have to pay for this at all, but people will want to work for you. This is not so easy to achieve, you need to carefully choose a leader. But if it succeeds, ideas will hit with a fountain.

10. Give your HR department a tough and ultimate form to make friends the marketing department and the sales department. Let them think around the clock how. What tool they choose - night rafting on mountain rivers in kayaks, hiking in a pub on Fridays, landing everyone in the same office - it does not matter. For you, only one result is important - “They are friends and are friends of families!”, Nothing else.

11. Insert one or two points from the sales area (preferably merchandising) into the key goals for the marketing manager, and put one or two points from the marketing area to the sales manager. In fact, prove to them that your requirement to interact, and not to collect incriminating evidence, is not empty words. All is serious.

12. Require the director of marketing (if not, then yourself) to organize a library in the marketing department. Give reading assignments - organize meetings once a month, demand a list of what will be introduced. This will be an endorsement for the purchase of new books. To help you, I made the section "My Marketing Library" - so you do not have to buy everything.

13. Since your marketers have advanced significantly in professionalism over the year, increase salaries the next year. In the first three years of operation, at least 10% per year plus industry average growth.

14. For the marketing director and the commercial director, consider participating in a profit. This is not necessary at all, but it "cements" almost tightly - you will not be afraid of any luring. The main thing - do not be late: it is always better to dig a well before you feel like drinking! By the way, how will your growth rates change if they work for your competitor?

15. Do not be shy to use trivial motivational tools: letters, handshakes (kisses are better not necessary). They do not cost anything - but they act, damn it! Especially for ordinary employees who are not spoiled by the attention of management. Suddenly rush into the marketing department to ask marketers whether they are doing well and giving enough money to develop the company. I am not kidding. Nothing forces marketers to work like a sense of need.

16. If suddenly a certain direction of marketing is closed, never fire a person, suggest that he try his hand at sales or somewhere else. Never declare (this is important), but try to comply with the tenet of lifelong hiring. Bear full moral responsibility for each employee you hire. This is the most powerful and long-acting among the motivators I know. If you treat people like garbage (you need - you took it, you didn’t need it - you threw it away), then no salaries will help you.

17. When hiring a manager, give preference to a man. According to my surveys, 90% of employees in the marketing department (of which 90% are women) would like to see a man as a leader. In my experience, 50% of candidates for an interview position cite a conflict with a new leader, a woman, as the reason for the transition. Even if you have to pay a man a higher salary, it will still pay off (all - now all women will hate me)!

18. In my experience, more than 50% of marketers want to see a manager as extremely competent and want to learn from him, despite the lower salary. If he is your star, then instruct him to read the training for the marketing and sales department once every six months. Let everyone see how smart he is (or vice versa). By the way, this also will not cost you a dime.

19. If your company in the same position pays twice as much, do not immediately set this level. First, increase your salary by 30%, after completing the probationary period add another 30%, after another six months. Believe me, this approach stimulates more. The salary level over the years greatly loses the ability to inspire people.

Once in my practice there was a case when they raised my salary after about two weeks of work :-). I have not worked in any company for as long as there, and now I remember her with love!

This was only once in my life :-(.

I don’t want to agitate you to pay more, but I noticed one interesting feature. Sam Welton in his book “Made in America” (I am convinced that you read this amazing book), already being a cancer patient, he wrote that he did not regret that out of his twelve planes there was only one supersonic one. Here is what he says: “Looking at all these satellite dishes on our buildings, or hearing about all these computers, or watching some video about our laser-controlled distribution centers, don't let yourself get confused. "Without our managers, each of whom perfectly matches his position, without our ordinary associate employees dedicated to their work, without our drivers, all of the above equipment and a penny are not worth a damn."

But he sincerely regrets one thing in his book. He says that if he had the opportunity to live life anew, he would have repeated everything except one. He would pay ordinary employees more ...

Tops Choice

If you intend to hire a marketing director, focusing on the size of the salary, then this is about how to look at the wrong end of the telescope. You should not care how much you invest in a month, but what will happen at the exit, which processes will be initiated and what the result will be. Remember: if you can effectively use at least some of my recommendations, the first and fifth paragraph will be of less and less importance to you, and then even a line of people who want to work in your marketing department will appear.

The marketing director must have extraordinary ability to strategic vision and at the same time have the skills of effective tactical management. He should have the ability to analyze, analyze many marketing indicators, such as market share, shelf price, “walk-off” from the shelf, brand recognition, percentage of repeat purchases, balanced and numerical distribution. It may seem that the marketing director only studies and evaluates many parameters, but this is not so. A marketing director’s job is to make decisions based on data analysis. To make decisions, one trend analysis is not enough. You need to spend a lot of time and energy studying consumer behavior and describing target segments. You need to know the motives of the consumer’s behavior, all of his choice parameters, as well as be able to rank these criteria by importance for different target segments.

Not every person, even with an economic education, will be able to offer product differentiation. Simple, understandable, easy to convey. It is more a flair and an experience than a science. Knowledge is a mandatory parameter, but, alas, insufficient. Ask the musician how he manages to achieve a unique sound, the athlete, how he overcomes the extra centimeters that separate him from the rest. Only those companies whose marketing directors have a future have the future: high status of the unit, systemic thinking, thirst for novelty, high decision-making speed, healthy adventurism and a spirit of experimentation. As Edison said, “genius is 99% sweat and 1% inspiration.” Therefore, you can’t just sit and wait for an idea. You need to be able to create incubators of marketing ideas. A good idea is just the result of the active management of the marketing department.

Times are changing rapidly, and now talent is becoming more important than capital. The marketing director often has extremely little material evidence of effective performance. The manufacturers gave out so many tons of products. Sellers sold for such and such an amount. Financiers spent money. (Lee Iacocca affectionately called them “little bastards.”) Everyone worked in their sweat, doing really “important things”: they cleared customs, ran around the banks, transported boxes from point A to point B. And what did the marketing director do? He recruited talented marketers into his department and inspired them with his own example. It may well be that at this moment he brings the company much more benefit than if he would do anything else. He thinks and seeks alternatives. This is the most difficult and at the same time the most important task that a leader can perform.

If you are able, encourage it. You pay your tops for seeing the whole picture, and not for fulfilling the plan. You pay workers to complete the plan. Do not confuse. Do not equate activity and effectiveness. Don't let Tops get bogged down in meetings and business trips.

The marketing director conducted consumer research. He analyzed how competitive the company's product is in relation to other market participants. He analyzed various positioning options. No tons and kilograms. Unfortunately, these days the marketing director has very few fast-moving labor results. It can be difficult to appreciate the creation of something truly special. What delights customers. However, he, the marketing director, and often, unfortunately, only he, is a champion of consumer interests in the company. And it depends on whether the company can survive in the long run. See for yourself, maximum production efficiency is achieved in the production of a single product. And the marketing director forces the company to produce more and more products tailored specifically for the needs of customers. In any case, marketing becomes the number one enemy of production. From a financial point of view, marketing is a very expensive department, while sales bring money every month. From the point of view of logistics, it is more efficient to serve few, but large customers, and marketing requires an individual approach to each. Well, how can one not suggest reducing the costs of the "empty".

Frequent staff changes, as everyone recognizes, is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of the quality of the product and services, the growth of customer dissatisfaction and the deterioration of the brand image. High staff turnover means that managers spend too much time hiring and training new employees, instead of taking on their core responsibilities. No one disputes that fluidity affects productivity and profits, at least when it comes to employees who communicate directly with customers. However, we do not know a single company that would admit that similar problems arise with the frequent change of marketing directors. We are willing to bet for money that if we were given access to Spencer Stuart information, we would find a direct relationship between industry results and the average “life expectancy” of marketing directors in it.

Most companies are struggling to improve conditions in order to keep employees in contact with customers, but when it comes to the position of marketing director, the flow is as if implied by itself, it is almost institutionalized. For us, this trickle may be even more intimidating than the rest of Spencer Stuart's research. A revolving door in the office of a marketing director means a huge number of initiated and unfinished strategies and programs. This is bad for brands. This prevents the marketing from becoming more responsible - directors are fired before the strategy even has time to start being put into practice. This is bad for business. Moreover, this shows the continued focus on immediate results among senior executives who require radical improvements in one to two quarters. This is bad for everyone.

Some companies go so far as to pursue a policy of constant search for marketing directors, constantly looking for candidates, even if at the moment they do not feel such a need. There is no more powerful demotivating factor than expecting a stab in the back every day. In this case, the potential of any working person is zero - you just in vain monthly throw money away.