Marketing Management For Non-Marketing Managers

6ALIGNING MARKETING TACTICS WITH INFLUENCING FACTORS

Figure 6-1: Marketing Alignment Map

Have you heard the joke about the executive who doesn’t understand the value of his marketing investments?

‘I know that 50% of my marketing expenditures are productive, and the other 50% are a complete waste,’ he quips. ‘I just don’t know which half is which.’

What he’s talking about are the marketing tactics. Tactics are the actions a company will take to achieve its marketing objectives, and they represent the bulk of the marketing budget.

Unfortunately, the executive may have good reason to be sceptical. Many marketing dollars are wasted in these efforts.

We discussed the first reason marketing dollars are poorly spent in chapter 5, ‘Understanding What Influences Market Behaviour,’ which was because marketing plans are based on inaccurate assumptions about the factors that influence purchasing decisions. This chapter covers three additional sources of marketing waste: missing strategies, poorly designed strategies and poorly selected tactics.

TACTICS ARE NOT STRATEGIES

Many companies confuse marketing tactics with marketing strategies. Strategies talk about what the company plans to do to influence behaviour. Marketing tactics are how the company will make that happen. Tactics are the activities a company can select to reach its marketing goals.

Often, the same tactic can be used to support ...