Rui Gomes was invited by the business magazine Pontos de Vista to write an opinion article on Marketing
We live in business times, the most competitive times in living memory. An era in which we compete on a daily basis not only with our direct competitors next door, but also with those on the other side of the world.
A few months ago I was invited to talk about what Marketing is all about, a bit like “From theory to practice”, to an audience of students, teachers and entrepreneurs. Having such a diverse audience in front of me, I confess that I was somewhat surprised by the way Marketing is still understood and, for this reason, I think it’s important to make a few points.
We live in business times, the most competitive times in living memory. An era in which we compete on a daily basis not only with our direct competitors next door, but also with those on the other side of the world. At the click of a button, we can establish a first contact, present a product, a campaign, a budget, analyze markets or consumer behavior, without having to leave the office. This is the time to be innovative, effective and, preferably, to anticipate needs, so that we can stay one step ahead of our competition, which is lurking not just around every corner, but in every digital communication medium.
For these and other reasons, it is essential to have a strategic plan that clearly states what we want and where we want to go, who we want to communicate with and how. All this so that we can anticipate and better protect ourselves from the ferocity of globalization. But this doesn’t just have to be a threat. After all, as those at Harvard University tell us, we must be able to turn threats into opportunities. If our competitors can do it, we have an obligation to do it! And which department is responsible for this task? Marketing.
Marketing, as a management philosophy, combines knowledge from a wide range of areas. From business sciences to social sciences, from management to communication or consumer behavior. Marketing is about analysis, planning, execution, achieving results and constantly evaluating them. As well as managing exchange relationships, always with a long-term horizon, marketing must also be a planned and goal-oriented activity. There’s no point in carrying out a campaign, launching a product or service if we don’t have a clear definition of the objectives to be achieved. Otherwise, we risk wasting time and financial resources. In the same way, when defining the objective of internationalization, a company can’t just focus on the financial, organizational or human resources aspects if it wants to expand its market, increase its sales or boost its resources. In this way, marketing is once again intrinsically linked to the company’s entire strategy, and has never been as important to its life as it is today.
I had a teacher who argued that “a good marketing plan is one that is so objective and simple that when a colleague reads it, even if they are not from the Marketing department and don’t know the subject, they will understand their role as a collaborator and its relevance to the company’s objectives”. He added that “a marketing plan is not a finished document” and that “it should be constantly updated” and, in this “updating”, all the other departments or sectors of the company should be included, such as the production sector. This premise takes us back to another one which tells us that “Marketing is too important to be restricted to one department of the company”. In fact, it makes no sense to belong to an organization if we don’t all share the same mission or if we don’t take into account who the main stakeholders are. A sales campaign for “N” products, a drop in production or in the supply of raw materials or a change in the distribution circuit are all reasons to make our objectives unfeasible.
When a company wants to expand its market and go international, it needs to take into account the variables it will encounter in the country where it wants to enter and gain market share. Marketing will have to adjust to the new threats posed by these markets. If we had to define International Marketing in one sentence, it would be “Think Global, Act Local”, or as the old saying goes, “Wherever you go to live, do as you are told”, and we should never lose sight of the innovation we put into this approach strategy.
It is therefore crucial that we know how to build bridges with those who know the market where we want to expand our horizons, whether in the form of a partnership or a join venture. Companies from CPLP countries should know how to take advantage of existing political and business relations. There is a lot of work already being done with the Chambers of Commerce, which can and should be put to good use in order to quickly turn threats into opportunities and weaknesses into strengths.
