Management and Marketing

Marketing is often confused with advertising, but in reality, advertising is only a small part of marketing.  Marketing is about supporting and protecting the value cycle – what’s that? I’ll explain in the context of one of the companies that I work with.  Our teams include:

• A customer team (phones, email support)
• A QC (quality control) team
• A marketing team – we actually call them the value team
• A communications team
• A research and development team

The value cycle

The value cycle is about finding out what jobs people are trying to do, creating something to do the job better than they have already, communicating why what we made was so fab, delivering it to them and then making sure they stay happy.  As a company, we do this not just for website customers but also for other kinds of ‘customers’: employees, researchers etc. (more…)

This week we were looking at the decision of whether to promote an existing employee to manager or recruit someone new to take the position. I took some time to draft up a list of management and leadership skills, as a starting point for identifying what we should be looking for from our managers.  Here’s my list – it’s a draft and by no means complete – I’m hoping to refine it over the next few months depending on the feedback I get from other managers.  In my view, most managers would need at least a basic understanding in each area and some would need both an advanced understanding and the ability to apply/train.  So you could set a target level for each manager and then record the level they are currently at, to give them training goals.

Technical skills

• Process or technique knowledge and proficiency in discipline managed.

Management skills

Resource management

• Financial resources (how money will be spent to get the work done, accounting for these expenditures)
• Material resources (obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed)
• Personnel resources (obtaining and seeing to adequate staffing levels)
• Time management (managing own time and other peoples’ time)
• Physical office management

Finance management

• Budget management (planning, monitoring, controlling)
• Finance process management
• Forecasting
• Finance decisions (deriving/using financial info to assist with decision making)
• Cost benefit analysis
• Breakeven analysis (should this go in operations?)
• Funding
• Measuring and managing organisational performance
• Tax
• Cash flow

(more…)

I’ve used this set of appraisal questions many times, with a good response. Employees are given the questions in advance and don’t have to answer every single one – they work like prompts.

• What do you like/dislike most about your job right now?
• Is anyone or anything making your life at work difficult? How can this be resolved?
• Do you feel there’s anything you’re struggling with that you could train on?
• Is there any way you want to expand your range of skills that could benefit the department/company?
• Is there anyone in the department/company who you feel you could help perform better? (yes that includes me!)
• What motivates you most?

(more…)

When you’re evaluating a new business opportunity/business idea, it helps to consider each of the P15 in turn, looking at what the current situation is and where you can make a difference. I created this summary (below) of the P15 recently, as part of a proposed new template for our value plans. Our value plans are what we use to evaluate whether a new business idea is worth doing, and we’ll look at anything from market research and pricing to the unique selling point (USP) of the opportunity.

This is about looking at what’s currently out there and considering how you can do better.  It’s about looking at where you can and can’t make an impact in comparison with your potential competitors. (more…)

If you’re trying to decide whether to go ahead with a project, pricing is probably a major factor.  When you’re making your calculations, don’t forget to consider (1) set up costs, (2) running costs and (3) pricing.  Set up costs should include both equipment and the time involved in setting up the project – if, for example, you have to put 2 members of your team on a project for six months, then the cost is half a year’s wages for each (plus any bonuses).  I created the tables below for our mini value plans (our value plans are used to assess whether an idea is worth doing or not). (more…)

I’m amazed how much money people are given in their marketing budgets with goals like ‘increase the Company’s revenue’. Managers must have money to throw away! No goal is worth setting unless it is a SMART goal.

SMART stands for : Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Realistic – Timely.

My number one rule for setting goals is not to pluck them out of thin air – look at current figures and trends to find realistic goals. You should always aim to beat what would happen, had you not embarked on the project.

Specific – A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions so far as they are applicable:

• Who – Who is involved?
• What – What must be accomplished?
• Where – Identify a location
• When – Establish a time frame
• Which – Identify requirements and constraints.
• Why – Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal. (more…)