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OnlineNewsletter
from
Davis & Associates(Strategic
Marketing)
EDITION
5: MARCH / APRIL 2001
Item
1: Recommended Reading - "Business as Unusual"
Body
Shop founder, Anita Roddick, is a very different kind
of entrepreneur. A firm believer in corporate social
and environmental responsibility, Roddick has long-espoused
"compassionate corporatism" and triple bottom line reporting.
Her
book "Business as Unusual"(Thorsons 2000),
is one of the most refreshing texts on management
and corporate responsibility you are likely to read
this year.
The
book expounds Roddicks' views on a wide range of
business and social topics, taking examples from
The Body Shop's corporate history to illustrate
her point.
Under
Roddick, The Body Shop has grown to become the UK's
largest international retailer, with 1,800 stores
throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
Roddick's
key tips for guiding business into the future include:
| 1. |
Be
quick |
| 2. |
Be
creative about different
ways of selling |
| 3. |
|
| 4. |
Interpret
the product broadly |
| 5. |
Build
partnerships with communities
|
| 6. |
Stay
human and measure success
differently |
| 7. |
Be
open (i.e. greater accountability)
|
| 8. |
Make
ethics part of your heritage
|
| 9. |
Be
different |
| 10. |
Remember
that people aspire to
more than money |
| 11. |
The
most important quality
in being a leader
is that of being acknowledged
as such.
|
ITEM
2: Opinion Piece - Marketing and Professional Services
The
typical lifecycle for senior marketers in a professional
services firm is somewhere around the two year mark.
High
turnover rates in senior marketing personnel are the
norm rather than the exception. Why?
Put
simply - the professions (in particular, law and accounting)-
are failing to apply a consistently professional and
contemporary approach to managing their marketing capabilities,
especially recognising the key role marketing and marketers
can play in business development, client retention and
branding (there are some exceptions amongst the largest
of the accounting and law firms).
Instead,
in many law, accounting and management consulting firms,
a "class distinction" has emerged between professional
staff (i.e. accountants, lawyers) and marketing staff
(commonly denoted as "support staff").
This
distinction reveals itself in a myriad of ways (e.g.
less promotional opportunities, little chance of partnership,
lower remuneration/packages, lesser training and professional
development budgets and opportunities etc).
Accompanying
this, is often a poor understanding of the strategic
brand and business development components of marketing.
In too many cases, marketing is focused on events, seminars,
PR, brochures and tender documents. For many partners
and professional staff, marketing is seen as an "overhead",
rather than as an investment in retaining and growing
business.
At
the Managing Board/Executive Committee level, marketing
is often represented by a non-marketer, with the firm's
senior marketing professional reliant upon a "Marketing
Partner" to be his/her voice at the top table. This
can mean management not being sufficiently equipped
with the best knowledge necessary for discussing and
debating fully, key strategic marketing options and
opportunities.
A
further example of the lack of "professional" management,
is the constant pressure placed on marketing budgets
- which are generally inadequate to achieve the desired
results (typically well below 2% of operating revenue),and
are subject to regular pruning.
In
such a business environment, marketing professionals
become demoralised and frustrated.
While
marketers most certainly need to accept their share
of the responsibility for this "state of play" (notably
the failure to "market marketing" and to increase marketing
literacy within their organisations), the deeper problem
lies in the structure and culture of professional services
firms themselves.
It
is time to seriously address, therefore, what has become
a very real issue: the consistently high turnover of
marketing staff and the corresponding costs.
The
implications (and risks) for professional services firms
are obvious:
- Loss
of marketing knowledge and intellectual capital
- Undifferentiated
marketing strategies
- Ineffective
branding and brand activities
- Weak
and/or ambiguous positioning in the marketplace
- Lack
of continuity in long-term marketing planning.
You
can consider a range of initiatives including,
- The
senior marketing executive reporting to the CEO/Managing
Partner and having a seat at the management table
- Allocating
a meaningful marketing budget (ie. between 5 - 10%
of operating revenue)
- According
partnership status to your "Chief Marketing Officer".
- Repositioning
marketing as the function responsible for client retention,
acquisition and information, not just marketing communications
and client entertainment
- Establishing
and monitoring a clear set of KPIs for marketing,linked
to the organisation's wider KPIs
- Seeing
marketing staff as valued longer-term employees; extending
to them, the remuneration, packaging and training
opportunities available to accounting/legal staff
- Developing
and running internal marketing education programs
to increase the level of marketing literacy throughout
the organisation
- Breaking
down functional silos and encouraging reciprocal internal
secondments (i.e. marketers working directly in business
lines, accounting/legal staff working on a "seconded"
basis in marketing functions).
ITEM
3: New Business Wins
Over
the past six months, Davis and Associates has won some
notable new appointments and projects, including:
- Appointment
as KPMG Recruitment and Contracting's national
marketing consultant
- Appointment
as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's (Australia/New
Zealand) media relations agent and counsel
- Adviser
to ASX Perpetual(Registries Limited)on business
development and marketing strategies
- Development
of a Strategic Marketing Plan for St.George Bank's
Group Marketing function
- Strategic
marketing counsel to law firm, Gilbert and Tobin.
ITEM
4: AMI Seminar - Marketing Services
The
AMI is holding a breakfast seminar on "Key Challenges
in Services Marketing".
Lan
Snell, Director of Marketing for Cap Gemini Ernst &
Young Asia Pacific (Service Lines and Alliances) is
the guest speaker. The seminar will be held at the Renaissance
Hotel, Wednesday 11 April, 7:30-9:00am. For more information,
call Furness Associates on (02) 9438 4141, or email
furness@ozemail.com.au.
ITEM
5: Strategy for Law Firms
The
McKinsey Quarterly (2001, Number 2), contains
an interesting article on the key dynamics and trends
occurring within the global legal sector ("Lawyers
get down to business"); while it has a US/UK focus,
a number of the insights and observations are highly
relevant to the Australian market.
To
read and download the article go to: www.mckinseyquarterly.com.
ITEM
6: Peppers & Rogers website - Consummate CRM Resource
In
terms of scope and depth on the latest CRM thinking
and trends, as well as offering a number of free online
tools and products (including a weekly email newsletter),
bookmark the site of leading CRM thinkers,Peppers and
Rogers, www.1 to 1.com.
ITEM
7: Web Designers and Creators
Davis
and Associates use Sydney-based web design company,
MC3 (formerly known as Mediacom-IT), to produce their
email newsletters and to build the company's website.
MC3 offer a range of online communications products,
from CD-ROM presentations through to dynamic, content-driven
websites. Their portfolio of work can be viewed at www.mc3.com.au,
and they can be contacted atinfo@mc3.com.au,
or on (02) 9555 6100
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