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TIPS Talks with André Zeferino | Consultant and Trainer in Marketing Strategy

André Zeferino is our next guest in this podcast for a very interesting discussion on the impact of marketing management in the aftermarket business: How important is it to develop a marketing strategy? What challenges can be taken? How technology became an essential tool in business management? What practices should be applied?

1. What trends are shaping the future in the business world?

Firstly, the enormous importance of anticipation: essentially new capacities in the way we anticipate factors that have an impact on the performance of our market, and that lead us to be more aware of what's going on around our business, so that we can act more and more proactively and less reactively, avoiding missing opportunities (to the competition, for example) that would be decisive in maintaining or growing the company's future.

Secondly, the power of technology, which allows us to accelerate what we do well in terms of competitiveness, but which also has the dangerous possibility of making many businesses obsolete more quickly.

2. Being technology today an indispensable tool for marketing, what concrete benefits does it bring to companies?

Technology is an accelerator of innovation and process improvement, making business operations more efficient, something that if we don't do internally, most likely will be done by a competitor instead.

At the same level of transformation, technology is today an instrument of value creation in what sets our business apart from the market. Combining technology - as in the case of digitalisation - with many of our current practices will allow us to identify improvements and create new solutions that add value to what we are offering our clients, whether in the development of services, commercial relations or collaboration with all our partners and suppliers.

People now play a central role in the organisation, where there is an increasing attempt to humanise the process of HR management as well of the organisation as a whole.

3. Considering that most aftermarket companies are small and don't have a marketing function, what marketing strategies can be implemented in this context?

These companies must focus very strictly on their market, no matter how small it may be, and look not only at communication and advertising – market(ing) is much more than this - but at what their business offers in terms of differentiation:

• Who are my costumers?

• Who are my competitors?

• What aspects can change my market and transform what I consider I am doing well?

• Basically look at where my business is centered.
  
  

Those who do this exercise with a vision aligned with their business are thinking strategically and are in a position to consider the next steps in their operation and in future developments.

The size of the company is not the main obstacle in this dynamic, but the will, ambition, and mindset of professionals, managers, or directors in wanting to make a difference and achieve something more through their businesses, fostering a thought oriented to the whole reality.

4. Looking at the diversity of technologies today used in marketing, is it also important to know how to use these tools in the best way?

The most relevant thing is to understand where we are in our business and, with that, realize what are our needs in technological terms. This is the logic, because only by evaluating the weak points and determining from this level where we can improve or increase our offer, will it make sense to go to the market to select this or that tool to "connect" to our business.

5. What good marketing practices can be adopted by aftermarket companies?

Firstly (and reinforcing a previous point), we should know who our customers are. Segmentation is essential.

We also need to realise who our competitors are. If we're not continually thinking about a differentiating proposition and we continue to provide exactly the same service as the ‘company across the road’, then, in the very short term, one of them will be over, because the market will always prefer the most convenient service, reflected in an advantage that distinguishes itself from other offers.

6. In terms of knowledge generation, to what extent is reporting also an importance issue in business information?

Marketing reporting is a crucial snapshot for evaluating ‘where we are and where we're going’. This snapshot allows us to do what we said at the beginning: anticipate concrete strategies and actions for our business, taking into account what is happening in our market and in a wider context. Today it is possible to create knowledge on a more recurring basis and at a very granular and detailed level about different areas of the company.

7. Why should companies invest in marketing and what is the ROI in business when applied?

Because this area is perhaps the one that drives the most technology into companies, marketing became fundamental for evaluating and getting to know the market within the strategic purpose we've mentioned. And therefore all this represents and feeds a permanent mindset of innovation and value creation, which must exist in companies that want to anticipate trends and position themselves in the best possible way towards future opportunities.

On the other hand, the marketing effort is measured by its contribution to the business, introducing new ideas to innovate products and services (locally or in other geographies); new ways of attracting and converting customers; more effective means of distribution and commercial relations, making a difference to sales cycles and profitability.

8. Should marketing be applied by all people in the organisation?

Yes, because if it is focussed in only one person, from a strategic point of view, there is a greater effort to transfer knowledge and marketing ideas that can boost new business opportunities.

Having an integration and alignment of this vision and above all of this mindset, we will have the whole company "looking in the same direction" in a collaborative effort to think and do marketing, even in more central or traditional functions, in the relationship with suppliers, etc.

The traditional practice of "isolating" marketing in one person or "departmentalizing" its function, nowadays results in a considerable loss of resources and shared dynamics, precisely because of the skills and competences that this area has acquired during the time.

IN SUMMARY
It has become clear that, regardless the size of the company, the importance of a marketing strategy and its implementation, by finding the most appropriate formats, will allow the business to be valued, bringing not only the expected results, but also achieving new opportunities by anticipating future trends and practices.