Marketing firm Adelaide

The opportunity for a small business to grow

Even though small business owners have barriers to overcome, large corporates also have challenges on a larger scale in a more complex environment. While there are resource constraints for larger companies as well, they must compete for their market share, whether focusing on developing new categories and segments or finding new markets to grow revenue.

One main difference when it comes to the marketing planning process in larger enterprises compared small businesses is the expertise and resources available. As SMBs may only have a small in-house marketing team, it is common that there is no time available for planning, or there is lack of marketing training, or experience to create a strategic marketing plan.

But what if small and mid-sized business owners and their marketing teams could have access to corporate marketing expertise and experience to assist in developing a strategic marketing plan?

Marketing firm Adelaide

This is where Marketing Value Creation, a boutique Adelaide-based marketing firm, can make a significant difference to small or mid-sized businesses (SMBs). With 25 years of strategic marketing experience from corporate and international companies, I specialise in bringing a robust and systematic strategic marketing process to SMBs to help them build a solid marketing foundation.

I usually say, “imaging your business results when marketing works”. It’s about unlocking SMBs’ strategic marketing potential and helping them move beyond tactical marketing conversations and transform their current thinking.

As a strategic marketing consultant, I can help redefine marketing in a company and provide a new perspective on how marketing can help grow the business.

Interestingly, a 2022 trend report on marketing strategy found that 40% of marketers don’t have a documented strategy. As an average across different industry classifications, company types and marketing team sizes, there seems to be much room for improvement.

As a marketing firm in Adelaide, I provide expertise on how small and mid-sized businesses can develop and incorporate strategic marketing planning and identify critical strategic marketing elements necessary for long-term growth.

Bringing corporate marketing processes into small and mid-sized business environments

The overall market value of most large companies is primarily comprised of intangible assets, such as the brand, loyal customers, or a strong network of distributors, rather than tangibles. They are called intangible as the assets are non-physical when a company markets its product and services. This means that the company value is mostly driven by marketing-related activities.

As an Adelaide-based marketing firm, the goal is to bring the same focus and principles to small and medium-sized business environments, as intangible marketing assets are a cornerstone for creating long-term marketing value.

There are also interesting trend reports available, one for example, emphasizing the importance of retailers demonstrating their brand values and creating personalized customer experiences through human interaction. This principle of prioritizing customer needs applies to businesses across all industries and are not exclusive to retailers.

No matter what type of business you run, putting your customers first and developing a positive customer experience is crucial. While every company faces its own marketing challenges, working with a marketing firm can provide a valuable resource, expertise, and know-how to enhance customer interactions and ensure your brand values are effectively communicated.

The importance of a having a marketing plan in place

Despite day-to-day challenges, small businesses need to allocate time to develop a strategic marketing plan to compete and grow. The benefits are many; one being that SMBs can make the most of their limited resources with a plan in place. As a result, they can stretch their marketing budgets further and achieve more significant results working towards clear goals and objectives.

Further, the connection between marketing, other departments and business strategy is always fundamental. Even so, a global marketing survey reveals that only 31% of marketers say their sales and marketing teams are strongly aligned.

Having a marketing plan can significantly enhance the overall performance of a business. By gaining a deeper understanding of the target audience and crafting messaging that resonates with them, businesses can improve their market position and distinguish themselves from competitors.

Moreover, by fostering collaboration between various departments, companies can disrupt the status quo of their marketing practices and unleash the full potential of marketing.

Key benefits of leveraging corporate marketing skills

But what are the concrete advantages of leveraging corporate marketing skills and experiences to drive growth for small and medium-sized businesses? Here are some key benefits worth exploring:

1. Increased efficiency: By tapping into marketing expertise, SMBs can streamline their marketing operations and achieve their objectives more efficiently.
2. Competitive edge: Leveraging corporate marketing experience can help SMBs differentiate themselves from competitors by positioning themselves as a reliable, trustworthy, and innovative brand.
3. Strategic planning: I partner with SMBs to develop comprehensive strategic plans that are aligned with their business objectives and capable of delivering measurable results.

But there are also other specific benefits of bringing corporate marketing skills and experiences into small and medium-sized businesses as well. Let’s take a closer look:

Improved Brand Awareness

For any company, it is crucial to increase its brand awareness. Research indicates that “75% of shoppers are likelier to purchase from a company that knows their name. But if you are an SMB, how do you get to the point of having a well-known brand?

While it sounds easy to develop a unique brand identity, create consistent messaging across all marketing channels, and leverage marketing channels to reach a wider audience for most companies, it’s not.

And because of that, smaller companies tend to jump into the tactics first instead of thinking about how segmentation, targeting, and positioning are essential tools and strategic approaches to develop brand marketing strategies and how a proven process will substantially benefit the business.

Increased Sales and Revenue

Ultimately, any marketing strategy aims to drive sales and revenue. The big question is what time horizon a company should use to evaluate the effectiveness, short-term and long-term.

To evaluate the results effectively, it is essential to have a dashboard of key performance indicators that provides insights into short and long-term results and to continuously use analytics and data to refine and improve marketing strategies and campaigns.

Leveraging Brand Assets for Growth

If you ask why creating brands is vital, you will get different answers from different people.

In a simplified way, by developing a unique brand identity and messaging that resonates with potential customers, businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors and build strong customer relationships.

Others would argue that the main reason for developing and investing in a brand is because you can charge a premium price, and reputable brands tend to be more price inelastic under challenging times.

The marketing strategist and author David Aaker said, “Branding adds spirit and a soul to what would otherwise be a robotic, automated, generic price-value proposition.

Leveraging Channel of Distribution for Growth

Effective distribution channels are critical for large enterprises, and small and medium-sized businesses are no different. Businesses can reach their target audience more effectively and efficiently by leveraging the right distribution channels.

The economist and business strategist Michael Porter said, “a company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve.” One way to establish this difference is by leveraging distribution channels that competitors need to utilise or by utilising existing channels more effectively.

The way to think about the distribution channels’ importance is that the revenue streams come from the channels in a business. When developing a marketing strategy, there are four main questions to ask:

• What channels do you use to distribute your product?
• Where is the revenue originated from?
• Who is the sphere of influence in the channel?
• What marketing channels should a company use to reach those who buys or influence the purchase decision?

Leveraging a customer-centric approach for growth

Making the customer the focal point of the business is crucial. Or as the famous management guru, Peter F Drucker, said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer”.

Considering that, customer centricity is pivotal in any marketing plan. It’s really about understanding customers’ needs and preferences before developing customer strategies.

As simple as that sound, Philip Kotler, the marketing guru, and Professor, provides some valuable advice “It is no longer enough to satisfy your customers. You must delight them”.

From a marketing strategy perspective, it is pivotal to conduct market research to gain insights into customer preferences and leverage that in the strategic planning process to improve business outcomes.

When building a marketing strategy, there are three main customer questions to ask.

• What is the customer journey to purchase the company’s products and services?
• How does the company provide the best customer experience across all touchpoints?
• How does the company best engage the customers when they want to?

Integration of marketing and innovation processes for business growth

Finally, integrating marketing and innovation processes are critical to driving growth and success, and much has been written about the marketing role in a company when it comes to innovation.

The Innovation value chain from Harvard Business Review for example is a great article to read. It speaks to the importance of viewing the process of transforming ideas into commercial outputs as an integrated flow in three phases: idea generation, converting ideas and idea diffusion, rather than thinking about it as transforming raw material into finished goods.

Finally, in large enterprises, the Marketing function usually has a prominent role to play in developing new products. For SMBs, though, marketing may have a different and lesser involvement depending on the company. Regardless, successful integration of marketing and innovation processes is critical, or as Peter Drucker famously once said,” a business only has two functions, marketing, and innovation.

Marketing firm Adelaide

In conclusion, small and medium-sized businesses must leverage intangible marketing assets to succeed in today’s competitive landscape. Focusing on key elements such as the brand, distribution channels, the customers, and integrating marketing and innovation processes can help SMBs develop a powerful marketing strategy that delivers long-term business growth.

At Marketing Value Creation, a boutique Adelaide-based marketing firm, there is a real understanding of the challenges SMBs face in today’s market. A comprehensive range of strategic marketing services and packages are available to SMBs to enhance their strategic marketing approach.

Whether you’re a small business looking to replace your current marketing approach or a mid-sized company seeking to take the next step in your growth journey, Marketing Value Creation is here to help you.