Strategic Marketing Helps Manufacturers Steer Sales

by Gary Giallonardo

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Competitive Analysis

To protect the manufacturer from the cyclical risks of a single-industry customer base, we still needed to find inroads into new markets. This included a detailed competitive analysis of contract manufacturers with similar core competencies. An analysis of other high-performance machine shops fabricating complex parts revealed a host of markets and prospective customers outside the aviation/aerospace industry.

Gap Analysis

The fastest avenue into any new markets, especially during times of market consolidation, is to identify problems that competitors have been unable or unwilling to solve. These unmet needs, or gaps, provide opportunities for new business. To identify these opportunities, the manufacturer recruited a band of "foot soldiers" to help open doors into new markets. By identifying and attending trade association events in related industries, they developed a national network of manufacturer's reps to assist in positioning the company for future growth.

Implementation - Stay the Course

While analyzing the supply/specifier chain and competitive environment are important, the most critical step is implementation. Without implementation, strategic planning is just a plan with no vehicle to drive the results.

Implementation is the key to success.

Too many companies, especially small manufacturers, get caught up in the business of everyday operations and putting out fires. They eventually revert to their old ways and abandon the plan. You have to stay the course to achieve and sustain growth.

Successful strategic marketing relies on a thorough understanding of where you are now, where you want to go, and how you're going to get there. It also requires quantitative and qualitative methods for evaluating whether you arrived at your intended destination. To do this, you need an objective third party with no political agenda and no emotional ties; someone who won't be distracted by the everyday challenges of running the business or making the sale. You need someone who knows what to look for, where to get it, and who won't be easily diverted from the course.

Your Roadmap for Change

Companies don't have to be in a crisis mode to reap the benefits of the strategic marketing process. Most manufacturers want to change; they want to be proactive. They just don't know how or they don't have the fact-based, decision-making tools needed to drive change in the right direction.

The art of strategic marketing is compiling an abundance of data from a variety of sources and assembling it into a meaningful format so you can pinpoint new customers and new markets. It involves finding the trends and patterns among a mountain of data. Whereas salespeople drum up sales, true industrial marketers drum up targeted information. They map out your whole market universe so you can make better, more well-informed decisions.

Investing in Your Future

It's what the big manufacturer's already know and what small manufacturers are still learning. Research is an investment in your future. It drives down the cost of sales. You get more bang for your buck by developing research-based strategies to focus your sales efforts. In the long run, a strategic marketing plan steers you in the right direction, helping you go farther with less effort and less waste.

Contact Industrial Visions Company for More Information

Supply and specifier chain mapping, competitive analysis, and gap analysis are just three steps in a comprehensive, 10-step process to develop a successful, strategic marketing program. Call Industrial Visions Company today at 248.457.4505 or email us to see how we can take your business to the next level.

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