Introduction

We are all used to the various Ps of Marketing. By this, I mean, Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Positioning, Promise, Physical Evidence and Purpose. Some even have many other Ps under their sleeves.

In most of the marketing assessments that I do, I have always used this framework to design and set parameters for measuring the success or otherwise of any product/service I have managed. In this article, however, I share what I consider other important elements that keeps the marketing function on wheel. The 5 Ms of Marketing includes Market, Meaning Money, Men, Manual, Menu and Measure.

Market:

It is counterproductive to invest in any marketing endeavour without a market. Some product and service businesses are not marketable, as these businesses were set up without the proper understanding of what the client actually wants or needs. A market is both a physical and mental space. In practice, a market must be actionable, reachable, profitable and measurable.

When a product or services fail to meet these standards, it’s hard to make any meaningful profits or even break even. When assessing your marketing, find time to see whether a product or services has a market which is measurable or profitable enough.

For instance, when converting your hobbies or passion into a business, you need to convince yourself that the business has enough demand that can provide the necessary financial flow required to keep the business running or better still whether the business serves a need or create value. Marketing is meaningful when there is a market.

Meaning

A business must have meaning beyond profitability. Businesses must inspire hope and create value for society and community. Business must not fail to recognize its role in promoting social cohesion, equity and social well-being. Without meaning, marketing has no real or nominal value or direction. Meaning is what helps marketers to design the brand values, position, tone, appeal and feel.

The meaning of the business or the marketing may include simple things like the choice of colors or font and complex things like the corporate social responsibility footprints of an organization. Marketing is more meaningful when it pursues objectives which are bigger than profitability.

Money

I have said that without funding, marketing is just for fun. Nothing about Marketing is cheap. At the very least, a business needs to commit something to earn something. Even the days when Facebook advertising was virtually free is gone. Today, you can only reach 5% of your Facebook followers organically.

The only way to increase reach and engagement is to run paid ads. Every aspect of marketing requires financial commitment. From printing of flyers, engaging vendors, flighting billboards, distributing marketing collaterals and many more. Some reasonable financial commitment must be made into it to be a success. I need not talk much. This is a trite knowledge.

Men

Needless to stress the importance of the right human resources for any marketing. No amount of money or viability of the business model can replace the need for the right human resources.

At the very least, the marketing team should include creative people, including copywriters, designers, videographers, photographers, media buyers, social media community managers and the rest. Other aspect of the marketing may include, researchers, customer analyst, business development managers, sales reps and others. It is important that the right KPIs, resources and incentives are provided for each of these professionals to ensure value for money.

Manual

Manual is the broad-based strategy for the marketing. It includes measurable, specific, actionable and timebound objectives, as well as budget needed to execute this. Sometimes, you need the right men, money and market to design the right manual for the business.

The manual spells out how clients are engaged, how businesses create and deliver value and the set of strategic actions to pursue to generate or achieve the broad-based business goals. The manual determines a business’ entry or exit strategy. More so, the manual sheds light on how to align the business goals with the marketing communications goals, ensuring consistency and accuracy in value creation and delivery.

Menu

Closely related to manual is menu. Menu refers to the specific mix of actionable executions that are required to achieve the marketing objectives. In Marketing this may include, flighting a billboard, running a radio or TV campaign, sponsoring an event or media projects, pitching a public relations story, choosing who reads the LPM, producing a jingle and, many other executions within the marketing value chain. Getting the Manual right and failing at the menu will not lead to any meaningful marketing. Preparing and executing marketing menu requires some attention, grit and details, all aimed at achieving the overarching marketing objectives.

Measure

You cannot manage what you cannot measure. This is one cardinal principle I learnt in Level 300 strategic communications class. While some marketing objectives may be qualitative in nature, a reasonable number of the marketing objectives should be measurable. For instance, objectives such as reach, engagement, sales, market share and profitability should be measurable.

There must be a system that tracks how the various elements of marketing is helping the business to be both profitable and meaningful. Marketing measurement can be both formative and summative. The formative model provides an ongoing monitoring mechanism to assess ca campaign’s viability, where as the summative measurements is done at the end of the campaign. Organizations must set the right performer indicators to be tracked and measured. Without measurement, marketing becomes a hobby.

Conclusion

This framework can be used to design a strategic marketing campaign and also to assess the impact of any marketing or communication activity. More so, this can be used to assess the viability of some businesses, especially when the objective is to assess their marketability and viability. This framework should equally be useful for anyone seeking to join a marketing team. You need to be convinced whether some of these pillars are available in the organization you want to join. It will save you a great deal, trust me.

Boateng Osarfo Samuel (BOS)

Writer/Researcher/ Lead Consultant for Preset Media and SkobaPublic Relations

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