The magic industrial marketing recipe for business success

As a business leader, it is important to understand the interdependence of each function and how each one contributes to the business’s overall success. Marketing plays a crucial role in shaping business strategy and creating customer value. In this blog, we will explore how every member of the organization can contribute to the success of the marketing function and the importance of having a clear understanding of business objectives and customer needs.

When we assume a leadership role in any organization’s business function, we want to be successful, and we want to succeed fast! 

This is where it all starts. Some of us have a clear purpose and business vision, a strong culture of collaboration, an established roadmap, the perfect team, the budget, the perfect support from stakeholders, the right tools and systems, and the great endorsement from senior management; it’s all there! 

If you are one of those, congratulations! You are part of a privileged group of business leaders with all the advantages to succeed; nothing can stop you!

But not all of us have this great opportunity; many must start from scratch. The road to success is paved with frustration, uncertainty, and confusion. 

Whether you work in a startup, an established small business, a mid-sized business, or an experienced company, you will face the same challenges. 

Sometimes you feel no confidence to make bold movements and need help knowing where to start, but sometimes it’s even worse; we might be biased and think we know it all without pausing and challenging what we might not know, which leads to chaos.

How often have you worked in silos trying so hard to get the buying from another department to get things done? Research shows that over 40% of employees don’t feel supported by those around them because they believe different departments always act in their own interests. 

ALIGNMENT.

Have you ever asked your team what your company’s purpose is? Have you gotten consistent answers? You assume that all understand the company’s purpose, but this is only sometimes the case. Only 4 in 10 people know what their company stands for and less than 50% feel connected to their organization’s mission.

Nevertheless, you are the leader and need to perform; it gets additional complexity when you move within the B2B world. 

Your team and challenges have changed, and your customer is different; you deal with industrial buyers. 

The industrial purchase process involves many variables that make it more challenging to manage. 

You start looking for the perfect advice, the holy grail of business growth. You turn to Google and get at least 280 million responses: innovation, know your customer, understand your finances, establish your KPIs…. You return to your MBA notes, look for mentors, and use your proven experiences in B2B. And all of these are great and work; however, remember, you need to succeed fast!

These are just a few of the many business challenges we face as functional leaders. So far, we have not talked about any specific business function. We all know that the success of a business also relies on the balance, interaction, and effectiveness of essential business functions like HR, sales and marketing, finance, and production.

As business leaders, we need to understand our organization and the interdependency of each function. Our expertise needs to be identified, and then the gaps must be filled by the expertise of others, within or outside the company.

We are talking about functions, not roles, and we are talking about the interdependency of functions. This means that regardless of our position, we need to understand the business, the objectives, the customer needs, the organization, the culture, and the value that each function brings to the business’s success. The key is to have clear business objectives aligned with the customer’s needs.

Business Marketing knowledge is not just for marketing roles.

Business marketing knowledge is for more than just marketing roles. The most important function(s) for a company are the ones that create the most value for a customer, and the function that is most related to value is marketing. 

In 2012, Dr. Philip Kotler defined marketing as ‘The science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.’ Peter Drucker stated it well over thirty years ago: ‘A company has only two basic functions: innovation and marketing.’ 

Marketing must play a lead role in shaping business strategy.

So how can each member of the organization contribute from their roles to the success of the marketing function? Is there a magic recipe?

As a business marketing leader, you must acknowledge and promote among members of any function the importance of understanding, creating, and delivering value to craft the best business marketing strategy. You must orchestrate the other departments to build upon the plan, and if you are in marketing or sales, you must define the clear value of marketing in the entire firm’s revenue process.

What is the magic recipe?

You know there is none; you cannot follow a script to develop the smarketing  (sales and marketing) strategy for success. However, you can start identifying or revisiting your goals, know your teams’ capabilities and build a strong culture with the customer as a cornerstone. 

Identify your gaps, look for the expertise you need to create your plan first within the organization and align and integrate departments. You may not find what you need within your firm, but you know what you need to succeed; at this point, search for subject matter experts to support you.

Make sure that the product you are offering covers a real customer need. But remember, you need to be fast and start to build agile teams; the principles are the same regarding the size of your organization, from a small business to a large enterprise. 

You just need to create value for your industrial customer. 

While you focus on your business, look for outsourcing the capabilities you do not have, from the very beginning, assessing your organization, recalibrating your business, extending your team, or executing your tactics.

Business success is a multifaceted endeavor that requires a clear vision, strong culture, and the right team and resources to succeed. 

By promoting the importance of understanding, creating, and delivering value, business leaders can craft a marketing strategy that drives success for the entire organization. 

Marketing, in particular, plays a crucial role in shaping business strategy, as it is closely tied to value creation for the customer. The opportunity lies in communicating and showing its fundamental part. By aligning all of these factors and staying attuned to the target market’s needs, business leaders can pave the way for sustainable growth and profitability.

We come from the industrial world and have been in your position. We can give you the speed you need to accelerate your business growth.

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