In a previous article, I explored the difference between marketing tools and marketing strategy and described Tier I marketing in detail. This post continues in that vein by exploring the next step in an organization’s marketing sophistication, what we refer to as Tier II marketing. Where organizations engaging in Tier I marketing are tactically driven, Tier II marketing is driven by strategic goals and insights. The strategy drives the tactics. The characteristics of a Tier II marketing organization include the following:

• Key Performance Indicators
• Preliminary market research
• Customer segmentation
• Positioning strategy
• Strategy drives tools
• Touch Point Integration
• Performance measurement
• Marketing mapped to sales process

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Marc Kramer wrote an article for Forbes Magazine last November. The title of the article is The 10 Questions You Should Never Stop Asking. The article is based in experiences the author had while trying to captain a sinking publishing business. Here are his 10 questions:

1. What is our purpose for existing?
2. Who is our target market?
3. Does anyone need what we are selling?
4. If there is a need for what we are selling, can we be profitable?
5. What are our competitors up to?
6. Can we reduce expenses without harming the product?
7. Do we have the right leadership? Continue reading →

The future success of your business depends on your ability to perform meaningful market research. Does this come as a surprise? It shouldn’t. Market research allows you to:

• Measure customer satisfaction
• Make your marketing more efficient
• Find new customers
• Develop a customer-centric product development cycle

Assuming that you are selling a useful good or service, knowing any or all of the bullet points above would be considered useful by most business people.

A study done by an Australian research group discovered that firms that had strong market research capabilities had greater sales growth, profitability, customer satisfaction, and new product success rates were firms that had significantly greater market research abilities (Vorhies, Harker, Rao 1999). Continue reading →