Marketing Concept™ is a trade name of Ingirum™ Limited

INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT is a Strategic Marketing Consultancy offering a full range of services.

We use rigorous analytical techniques, tempered with a good dose of real world experience, to develop and implement strategic change, improving the performance of your organisation.

What is Strategic Marketing, and why is it different from just Marketing? The term "Marketing" is widely misunderstood. Many people when asked; "What is Marketing?", will respond with answers such as; "Producing TV advertisements", "writing catch phrases", "producing brochures", "a conspiracy to make people buy more than they need", "fancy packaging", or "sponsoring the Olympics". In fact these are all part of Marketing but only a small part. Marketers describe the above activities as Promotions, which are designed to create awareness, interest, desire, and action among potential customers. Real Marketing, in addition to the promotions described above, also addresses issues such as; What products or services should we be involved with? How much should we charge for them? How do we make it easy for people to purchase our products? The simple question "What products or services should we be involved with?" is a massive issue. It encompasses; What do potential consumers want? What is the competition like? Will we make any money doing this? Do we have the capability to deliver what is required? Would we be better doing something else? Is the market long term or short term? How do we address the market we have identified? Does the market break down into market segments? etc.

The point of this is to emphasise that there is more to marketing than is commonly understood. Marketing is defined in the "MARKETING CONCEPT", of which there are several different definitions, but all of them incorporate the broad definition of marketing alluded to above.

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers' requirements, profitably." Chartered Institute of Marketing. The marketing guru Kotler defines the marketing concept as: "The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organisational goals consists in determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors" This Kotler breaks down into four components; Market Focus, Customer Orientation, Coordinated Marketing and, Profitability. Some alternative definitions of the marketing concept include: "Your business will perform better, if you know what people want in the first place." Anon. "Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialised activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer's point of view." Druker.

Strategic Marketing

Strategic Marketing is the management process of instilling the marketing concept into the heart of an organisation. It is this objective which drives Marketing Concept Strategic Marketing Consultancy. At the core of Strategic Marketing are; Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning. Other Concepts There are three* basic and contrasting concepts explaining how organisations function. Needless to say the marketing concept is the one preferred by Marketers! *(The number of concepts varies between three and five according to various authors, but to keep things nice and simple we stick to three) 1. Production Concept 2. Selling Concept 3. Marketing Concept

Who we are: Matthew Haynes BA(Hons), MBA, MCIM Principal Consultant Director of Ingirum Limited "I have worked in several different business areas covering business-to-business service and manufacturing. This has given me a broad appreciation of a wide range of business issues in each sector, and their strategic challenges". "My experience, combined with an Honours Degree in Business Studies, and a Masters Degree in Business Administration, make me well placed to give advice on many strategic issues. I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a number of other professional associations. If you would like to know more about my background, please visit my C.V. Website. Ingirum MARKETING CONCEPT operates with a network of companies and individuals with different skill sets. Depending on the project requirements, different individuals will be brought in to the team on a project-by-project basis.

Objective of Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into groups, where the members of each group has similar requirements. This allows marketing plans to be developed specifically for each of the groups. By recognising that the requirements of the market are not homogeneous, one can secure competitive advantage by designing packages targeted for each group. Clearly there are many ways in which a market can be grouped, which will include by; Sector, Age of company, Age of buying decision-maker, Geography etc. Although these are valid groups they do not address the key question which is “Why is this service being bought?” or to put this in a marketing context, “What benefits are sought?”. To work this point, if we group (segment) the market by the buying age of the decision-maker, although we will have an accurate piece of analysis, we will not necessarily know how to form the offer to attract this segment of the market. Benefits Defined: “Customers buy Benefits not Products”. The classic example of this is the Black & Decker Drill, no one wants a drill (product), what they want is a hole (benefit). Companies that concentrate on products rather than benefits can be defined as suffering from “Marketing Myopia”. In his definitive work Theodore Levitt summarised the need for a benefit led approach. Benefits based segmentation approaches the question from the perspective; If we find what benefits people seek, we can then group them accordingly. Then a method must be found to identify the external characteristics that can be used to define the members of the group. Quote from Theodore Levitt ; “If you’re not thinking segments, you are not thinking marketing” . "Moving Targets" Segmentation research must be ongoing. It is important to realise that the balance of the segments will change over time and possibly the benefits sought may change as well. Therefore as in all marketing related issues, the understanding of segments will be an on going issue, and changes in how the segments are to be attacked should have continual impacts on the strategies adopted.

The excerpts below outline the principles that INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT follow in change management projects. This is a helpfully concise set of principles and process steps, which provide a good reference point.

Four principles for understanding organisational change:

- Organisations are organisms (All parts of the “organism” have a function and will effect each other).
- Organisations are occupational and political systems as well as rational resource allocation ones.
- All members of an organisation operate simultaneously in all three systems.
- The acceptability of change will be determined by the confidence of individuals as well as their perception of the need for change.

Six rules for managing change effectively:

- Work hard at establishing the need for change.
- Don't only think out the change, think through it (Think about all of the implications of the change right through the organisation).
- Initiate change through informal discussion and get feedback and participation.
- Positively encourage those concerned to give their objections.
- Be prepared to change yourself.
- Monitor the change and reinforce it.
From; Understanding and Managing Organisational Change; Derek S Pugh Planning and Managing Change, Bill Mayon-White, ISBN 1-85396-053-5

Corporate strategy and marketing strategy are inextricably linked, and INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT can help with the process of formulating and developing strategic plans. Typical activities include: The development of corporate strategy Producing business plans Producing marketing plans Implementation planning The use of structured problem solving tools The above processes seem mechanistic in bullet points, however we ensure that participative approaches are used when possible and iteration is used to refine plans. Combined with the latest techniques we can ensure well considered and cogent planning methodologies are used and are communicated effectively.

INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT offer a full range of Market Research services, covering Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C), in both manufacturing and service sectors. The list below shows typical research.

New product/service research Customer satisfaction surveys Consumer panels Telephone research Staff surveys Market dynamics Competitor Research Market research needs to be carefully considered before it is undertaken, and this is where INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT really add value to the process. The design of a market research project must be undertaken within a carefully considered strategic framework and as such a rigorous definition of the objectives of the research will always be performed before any research is undertaken. INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT use carefully selected external suppliers for more labour intensive market research.

Project Management

INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT manage projects on behalf of clients. Normally this is the implementation phase of larger strategic projects, having undertaken a strategic review and having developed new plans. Typical projects include:

Sales force reorganisation. Implementation of new Sales/Marketing systems. Introduction of Incentive systems. Pricing management. Diversification set-up. INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT follow well established project management blue-prints to manage the process, combined with appropriate change management methodologies.

Promotions

Having developed a marketing plan, and identified target markets and channels, work on promotions can be undertaken. This can cover: Advertising Point of sale material and displays Telesales Public Relations Events Presentations INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT specialise in computer based presentations, which cover: Computer based training Power point presentations Web design and publishing e-commerce add ins Sales support applications

Interim management allows you to get high quality marketing staff into an organisation quickly. Common reasons for using an interim manager are: Departure of key staff Major projects creating unacceptable workloads Testing the efficacy of a potential future position Lack of appropriate skill levels A need for short term high quality strategic input Under developed networks, leading to poor procurement of marketing services

INGIRUM MARKETING CONCEPT produce computer based training packages, to support new initiatives. Computer based training packages are written specifically for your organisation's requirements, and can be distributed in a variety of ways. Typical subjects include: New Product / Service Demonstrations Customer Service Training Software Training (Sales Order Processing, C.R.M., Production Planning, etc.) Induction Training Process and Procedure Training Computer Based Training can incorporate any of the media types below:

Text, Pictures, Music, Narration, Animation, Video, Hypertext, Software Links, Web Links, Iteration, Testing, Feedback, Interactivity. Training courses can be delivered in several ways, which include: Stand alone PCs with CD-ROM Local Area Networks Intranet Internet The choice of delivery method depends on the circumstances of the trainees and your needs.