Marketing in a ‘Market-driven’ company

This is the fifth post in the series about marketing considerations relative to company culture drivers. Being market-driven means that everything done by everyone in the company is driven by the needs of the target market(s) you serve. Easy to say, makes sense to most people, many agree with the proposition, but truly market-driven companies are in the minority, particularly in B2B.

The following are key characteristics of market-driven companies (in no particular order):

1. Strategically selecting the market(s) and segments you serve
2. Understanding the problems, challenges and opportunities prospective buyers in your market are dealing with
3. Knowing the trends and future issues prospective buyers in your target market(s) will face in the next 1-3 years
4. Listening to and understanding what your customers are telling you about what’s really going on in their business, not just what new feature/function enhancements they want
5. Using reliable fact-based research data and industry/market analysis amongst several inputs for making strategic go-to-market decisions
6. Making strategic decisions across all areas of the company for which market(s) you’re going to serve and the key value propositions your company drives to market
7. Always using the ‘outside-in’ perspective
8. Your solutions genuinely create value for your customers
9. Focusing on where and how your company can excel in selected markets rather than just having a presence in many markets
10. Developing a corporate mindset of being a trusted advisor for customers and prospects rather than just another vendor of stuff and/or services
11. All functional areas in the company are aligned around the same go-to-market strategy
12. Understanding and responding to the buyer’s process while sales retain control of moving the buyer to a decision
13. Developing long-term customers who want to do business with your company
14. Using a balanced scorecard approach to measure marketing performance across multiple dimensions
15. Marketing is the strategic leader in the company and central to the success of the business

The above is not intended to be an exhaustive, scientifically researched list, but IMO represents the key attributes that I would look for to determine whether a company is market-driven.

Marketing has a significantly more strategic and pervasive role in a market-driven company. Performance expectations from marketing are higher and the risk of making wrong go-to-market decisions will derail the company.

“Business has only two functions--marketing and innovation.” – Peter Drucker

An article about the ROI of Being Market-Driven by Pragmatic Marketing cites various sources that market-driven companies are 31% more profitable, twice as fast in getting new products to market, and have 10-20% higher customer satisfaction levels. Seems that the benefits of being market-driven are tremendous, but my anecdotal view is that it may be the least frequent of the four company cultural models discussed in this series of blog posts, particularly in B2B companies.

Do you work in a market-driven company – how does it work in your company?
(use the comment link below to share your thoughts on this topic)
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