Welcome to our newsletter for August-October 2005.

This issue looks at the fundamentals of effective targeting for new business and unleashing the creativity of your marketing team.

Please forward this newsletter on to colleagues and friends who may also find it of interest.

As always, we want to ensure your continued interest in receiving our newsletter - so if you wish to unsubscribe, please email us at:
info@davismarketing.com.au.

Dianne Davis
Principal and Managing Director

www.davismarketing.com.au

Since 1998, we have consulted to a diverse range of professional and financial services organisations on establishing and managing effective targeting programs to source and qualify new client and work opportunities.

Below, is an overview of some of the key elements of our methodology and program:

A. Core Targeting Principles

• Investment & Commitment: The target is treated as a client; the target organisation must be of sufficient size/scale/potential to warrant the targeting effort.
• Responsibility: 1 Partner/Director per target, supported by a dedicated Manager-Senior Associate.
• Focus: Develop a clear “Target Conversion” strategy (i.e. take organisation from target through to client status)- that is documented and based on target needs.
• Measurability: Identify relevant KPIs to measure & track the effectiveness of your targeting strategy & effort.
• Accountability: Report to Office Chairman/Managing Partner – providing monthly updates and conducting full strategic reviews every 6 months.

B. Standard Targeting Process

Identify between 20-30 organisations & "run through" Target Selection Methodology
Select maximum of 5-10 Priority Targets for office / practice group / business unit
Nominate teams for each target
Develop detailed 12-month Targeting Conversion Strategy & Contact Program
Implement Targeting Program
Ongoing evaluation & monitoring

C. Target Selection Methodology

This comprises two stages:

Stage 1: Evaluate targets against a set of Attractiveness criteria (i.e. which targets “do we want”)

Stage 2: Evaluate targets against a set of Success Probability criteria (i.e. what are our chances of realistically gaining the target as a client within a 12-15 month + timeframe)

In both stages, some criteria are weighted to reflect their relative importance in determining attractiveness / success probability.

• The Target Selection methodology uses a numerical scoring system of 1-5 (1= none/low; 5= high/excellent) and built around achieving a required threshold level (typically 66-67%) for scores in both Stages 1 & 2.
• The threshold is deliberately set at a level to produce “strong probability” targets.
• While the number of criteria selected is flexible (and thus the impact on the total score), the threshold of 66-67% remains a constant.
• Priority targets should be reviewed regularly (i.e. inclusion of new targets/removal of existing targets) to reflect market changes.

For the specifics on our Target Selection Methodology, email us at: info@davismarketing.com.au

D. Target Reporting & Management: Key Components

• Create a database-knowledge management tool for each target
• Create a “working” budget for each target
• Hold monthly “Work in Progress” meetings - Target Team
• Monthly updates for Office Chairman/Managing Partner - summarise progress & actions / next steps
• Six-monthly Strategy Reviews - focus on achievement of KPIs
• Six-monthly Strategy Reports - summary of previous 6 months activity, KPIs and overall strategy and direction for next 6 months.

E. Key Elements - Target Conversion Strategy

E. Target Effectiveness - KPIs.

To talk talk to us further about our Targeting Methodology & Program - email us at: info@davismarketing.com.au

In “A Whole New Mind", Daniel H. Pink argues that we're effectively moving out of the Information Age and into the "Conceptual Age", where the future will belong to right-brain thinkers:

"Creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning makers".

Pink notes that while Harvard's MBA program admits about 10% of its applicants, UCLA's fine arts graduate school admits only 3% - a sign that the Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA) "is now one of the hottest credentials”.

Moreover, in 1993, 61% of all McKinsey recruits for management consultancy positions held MBAs; less than a decade later, it had dropped to 43%.

Pink calls the MFA "the new MBA," and believes that "high-concept abilities of creative people" are often more valuable than the "linear-thinking skills of ... business graduates".

In such an environment, will the conceptual and creative abilities of marketers become of growing import and value?

Indeed, corporate employers in the UK & US are showing an increasing leaning towards arts graduates for their broader generalist skills and lateral thinking abilities.

On the topic of creativity, Davis & Associates has recently joined forces with creativity & innovation consultancy – IdeaGen – to develop a series of offerings specifically aimed at marketers called - Unleash.

Unleash – employing a range of creativity tools & processes - enables marketing teams to release and realise their creative capabilities and instincts across a range of marketing activities, including:

- brand extensions / refreshes & repositioning

- extending existing products & services, new product development

- customer retention & acquisition, service delivery enhancements

- entering new markets

- smarter ways to structure & operate marketing functions

- maximising the channel mix

- media & communications strategies

- pricing strategies

- budgetary allocation & management

- positioning marketing as a source of organisation innovation & creativity.

Dianne Davis’ article “The Case for Re-Naming Marketing” will appear in full in the Summer 2005 edition of Professional Marketing magazine – the UK’s leading professional services marketing publication.

Please refer to our June-July 2005 newsletter for an abbreviated version of the article.

On 17 August, Dianne – as part of APSMA’s annual 2005 pre-conference program – will deliver a presentation on the fundamentals of marketing planning at AGSM’s city campus in Sydney.

And on 18 October, Dianne will deliver a keynote address on branding at the global accounting alliance (MSI) annual conference in Melbourne.

From this issue forward, our online newsletter will be produced on a quarterly rather than bi-monthly basis.

This reflects our intention to provide you with more substantive content at more appropriate time intervals.