Implementing your Commercial Marketing Strategy
A well designed Commercial Marketing Strategy is your starting point. But a great strategy is one that has been both carefully considered and well-executed, so getting your planning and implementation right is crucial.
Having decided where you are going to focus and defined clear Commercial Marketing Objectives for your business, the next step is to think about what activities will deliver success. This entails identifying who is going to do what, both internally and externally, when and how various activities are going to be done, and to set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the specific activities you have adopted.
In this section, we look at getting fully prepared, developing your marketing plans, building winning partnerships, executing with excellence, and measuring as you go. These will all be guided by your Commercial Marketing Strategy below.
In this video, Eileen Bentley and Stephanie Moe of the Client Capability team talk through the different stages and principles of Commercial Marketing Strategy implementation.
Am I Prepared?
Knowing as much as possible about your target market, customer / consumer and channel is key to ensuring that your strategy will be a success. This includes fully understanding your route to market and whether you need to adjust your product to local tastes, expectations and legal requirements. Being on top of everything from margins and pricing to agents and distribution partners to taxes and tariffs is critical.
Developing Your Marketing Plan
A Marketing Plan helps to capture all of the activities you are going to undertake in a fixed time period to deliver on the objectives you set out in your strategy. It should clearly identify responsibilities and budgets. A mix of activities will help you to address the range of objectives you may have. Most importantly, any activities must be adapted to the target market, customer, and consumer you are trying to win. Decide on what mix of activities and timeline works best for your customer and share this with them to show your commitment. Continually measure how any activities are going and be agile, addressing any issues as they arise.
How Will I Build Winning Partnerships?
A successful strategy and marketing plan will rely on many stakeholders, both internal and external. Clear targets and timelines for the activities each is working on will help you know how and when they will be delivered. Build and maintain these relationships to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible. Prioritise the most important contacts and spend time building up rapport so that they feel part of your team. KPIs can help you clearly communicate what success will look like and you can revisit progress against these together regularly.
Now that you've established What to Do, it's time to consider Doing it Well! Click on the Doing it Well tab at the top of the page to learn more!
Doing it Well
Doing it Well is about ensuring that you optimise your chances of success by striving for the very best execution of any activity or engagement in the marketplace, and continually reviewing this.
How Will I Execute With Excellence?
Putting your plans and strategies into action is what really matters. Until that, your strategy is only a theory. Mapping everything out will help you ensure that all of your activities are done on time, within budget and to the highest standards. Allocate as much lead-in time as possible to plan your implementation ahead of launch and to measure and review as you go. This is equally relevant for B2C or B2B opportunities. The more complex the project, the more time should be given to make it right. Executing on small tasks or ones done before all require attention, because you cannot assume they will always work the same way. You’ll need to measure these too.
How Will I Know If I’ve Been Successful?
To establish how successful your plans are, it is important to create relevant KPIs for your objectives to help you track, measure, and report on performance. These could cover a range of metrics; decide the best indicators to demonstrate progress towards your goals and objectives. These should not just measure the easy-to-collect data, but whatever is needed to show how they are helping to deliver against your objectives. Ideally, try to track progress over time rather than just once, as well as observing how the market you are operating in is evolving. There may be emerging risks or incremental opportunities that you can act on as they appear.
Bord Bia Services
Bord Bia has developed a number of services to help you make decisions and execute your Commercial Marketing Strategy with excellence. Click below to find out more about these services or to talk to the Client Capability Team about where your business needs help.
