Marketing process solves common ongoing marketing problems / Marketing via tires and tamales / Training approaches: Pros and cons / Fast casual restaurants market to kids

MARKETING PROCESS SOLVES COMMON ONGOING MARKETING PROBLEMS
My friend Nettie Hartsock sent me a book that I expressed interest in, Value Acceleration: the Secrets to Building an Unbeatable Competitive Advantage, by Mitchell Gooze and Ralph Mroz. In addition to her PR blog, Nettie writes a business book review blog, Must Read Business Books, and her review of the book piqued my interest. This is a great book -- I found it to be a solid, practical guide to the often misunderstood and sometimes mysterious process of marketing. Notice I used the word process when referring to marketing -- the lack of which “is at the root of most of the ongoing problems commonly seen in ‘marketing’,” according to Gooze and Mroz. The development of and adherence to a marketing/sales process is the crux of the book. (Because marketing and sales are so integral to the each other and the process, the authors use the phrase marketing/sales rather than discussing each function separately.)

It just makes sense to me.

Why not a process for marketing, too?
Successful companies have been operating with sound manufacturing and financial processes for decades, and it’s difficult to imagine how they might have conducted business without them. More recently, processes have been adopted for product development as well, which have greatly organized functions and eliminated many product failures for companies that use them. Gooze and Mroz contend that adding a properly constructed marketing/sales process can build a sustaining competitive advantage, especially in today’s business climate which requires the ability to change quickly in response to an unstable or fluctuating market. Yet very few well-defined marketing processes exist in the corporate world.

Why is that?

Common misconceptions
The authors contend that marketing suffers from two common misconceptions:

1. the confusion of marketing with promotion -- advertising, branding, public relations, sales support, etc. -- which is but one area of marketing, and

2. the misconception that marketing is an art rather than a science, that it is dependent solely on the insight of gifted people for its success, and that it’s not something that can be organized and structured.

Problems caused by lack of process
The problems caused by the lack of a unified marketing process include those in the following list. I find this list to be spot-on, and I’ve recognized these elements time and time again with clients.

1. marketing seems to change with every new regime

2. there is a new definition of marketing every time the company gets in trouble

3. there is no consistency over time or across products

4. each new product introduction requires management to spend countless hours figuring out what the marketing will be this time

5. the ability to justify resources doesn’t exist

6. marketing is hardly a smoothly running ship

7. there are fatal delays in decision making

8. marketing is organized in a seemingly random fashion

9. there are no objective criteria for measuring the effectiveness of marketing

What’s the fix?

I'll give you an overview of the authors' solution, including their assertion that, with the right process, it's possible to manufacture customers, if you'll just click over to my blog. We've run out of space here!

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MARKETING VIA TIRES AND TAMALES
Most people expect certain things when waiting for a tire rotation, wheel balance, or snow tire installation. They usually expect a small, dirty waiting room with a bad TV and stale coffee. But in Salt Lake City -- using a bit of unique marketing -- Victor's Tires and Custom Wheels offers Mexican food.

Owners Victor and Elvia Galindo first began pacifying their customers by selling chips and soda, but in 2004, Elvia turned that side business into a full-time Mexican restaurant. Her specialty is tamales and sincronizada -- a quesadilla that is stuffed with ham, avocado, cheese, green pepper, and tomatoes.

While the tire side of the business sells and installs hubcaps and custom wheels, the restaurant booms in its own right, as customers come just for dinner. It's an unlikely combo, but the Galindos have found that the tire/restaurant hybrid business means more customer loyalty and better relationships.

For more articles like this regarding marketing strategies, see Market like Mother Nature, Underground restaurants, and Five simple marketing ideas. For more articles on building relationships, see Marketing via experiences and The power of testimonials.

Source: Iconoculture

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TRAINING APPROACHES: PROS AND CONS
Training is an ongoing concern for most companies, be it in the form of skills-based instruction, a program to stay current in one's field of expertise, or management training. The traditional way of doing things is to get trainees together in a room in front of an instructor, but online training is becoming increasingly popular as well. Here are some pros and cons of each approach, according to Workforce.com:

Instructor-led training:
This approach is best when a high level of interactivity is desired and when training a group of people who are in a single location. It works well for interpersonal skills training. You get a high quality of delivery and immediate Q&A, and trainees should be of similar skill levels. But, in-person training is costly -- especially when students must travel to the session(s).

Synchronous web-based training:
This "live" style of Internet or intranet learning -- think of a webinar -- has many of the same applications as instructor-led training, without the limitation of everyone being in the same place at the same time. In return, you lose some of the "personal touch" and will require a bit more of a technical setup.

Asynchronous web-based training:
Asynchronous training is largely self-directed so that trainees can learn at whatever time is convenient and at their own speed. Training can be started and stopped at will, and it's very easy to distribute course materials -- which remain accessible at any time so that learners can go back to old material for a refresher. This works best for basic training or as part of an instructor-led course but not as well in areas where immediate feedback and/or knowledge sharing is desired. Asynchronous training is inexpensive and fairly simple, but some trainees do not do well with motivation in a self-directed program, and can easily be distracted.

To learn more about employee training, see Training is not about oysters. For more articles on employee engagement, see Personalizing motivation, Measuring employee engagement, and The impact of employee engagement on the bottom line.

Source: Workforce.com

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FAST CASUAL RESTAURANTS MARKET TO KIDS
An increasing number of fast casual restaurants are directing their attention toward attracting kids, and by extension, families with children.

Moe's Southwest Grill, a fast-casual chain headquartered in Atlanta, found that 42 percent of its diners brought with them children under the age of 12. From the same data (gathered at the end of 2006), the chain discovered that 89 percent of parents viewed fast casual restaurants as comfortable places to take children. With the National Restaurant Association predicting that restaurant industry sales will hit $537 billion in 2007 -- a five percent increase over 2006 -- fast-casual establishments are attempting to claim their share of that five percent by directing their marketing toward making these kid-friendly restaurants even kid-friendlier.

One way to attract more kids is, obviously, via food. Moe's serves smaller, kid-sized burritos, quesadillas, and tacos and is considering adding juice and milk products to its offerings this year, to make the packages healthier than those served with sodas. Industry sources say that kids are more savvy about food quality and more interested in how they look and feel, so food quality and presentation are becoming more important.

While quick-serve restaurants often offer premiums to their younger customers in the form of the proverbial "plastic toy in the box," fast casual restaurants are trying to offer slightly different incentives to kids in order to attract them. Some are offering items that kids can actually hold in their hands -- themed cups, a prize -- but others are simply trying to create a more kid-friendly atmosphere with upbeat music, coloring sheets on the placemats or kids' menus, and special events like birthday parties.

For more articles like this regarding foodservice trends, see GenY drives foodservice trend, Dishing it up at cereal cafes, and Food trends for 2006. To learn more about marketing to kids, see Kids in control.

Source: Fast Casual