As you may have noticed we did not name the marketing department previously. Well this is still a blog about online marketing and not about purchasing, hence we will go a bit more in depth for this department.
The Marketing department
The Marketing department is responsible for identifying customer needs, growing the company through reaching those in need, creating a positive experience for those reached both before and after the sale and optimizing/improving the previously mentioned responsibilities.
In other words. The Marketing department is responsible for optimizing the Customer Journey.
I like to refer to the Marketing department as the hands of the company. Specifically a hand reaching out. You can make the hand as soft and as clean as possible, you can make it as attractive for the person to grab it. But the person still has to grab the hand her- or himself.
If we take a deeper dive into the responsibilities of the Marketing department we can divide them into the following main points of activity:
- Identifying (potential) customer needs
- Defining the target audience
- Defining the target market
- Reaching the target audience
- Gathering the right data
- Setting Goals and KPI’s
- Generating traffic (and conversions!)
- Analyzing the data
- Turning data into action
- Expanding or improving
These ten components will be the topics of the next blogs. So that in the end, we have learned about a complete plan of approach for an entire marketing strategy and we’ve also learned where it’s best to start optimizing.
So, to think like a great marketer means to stop thinking just in the field of marketing. You need think as a person working for a business, and it is your goal to reach that business’ goals. I believe this is why they invented terms such as growth hackers, growth leads, etc. Because if you’re a marketer, well, that limits the scope just to the field of marketing. The entire job description itself is incorrect for the job that needs to be done. Being a great marketer means to think about more than just the marketing department. You need to see the business as, well, a business. Your job is to optimize that business to reach its goals. You need to think from the Why and as I told you at the start, Marketing is just a means to an end. Marketing is How you’re going to reach those business goals. But always start with why.
Now that we’ve gotten the mindset needed to ask the right questions. It’s time we start at the first actionable chapter of the series. Next week we’re going to start with the Identifying of potential customer needs. Or in other words, we’re going to find out why people buy (your) products or services.
See you next week!