Marketing is a complex process that involves many interactions among products and audiences. A market system is any structured system allowing many interacting market players to provide and receive: helping sellers and buyers interact more effectively, establishing and reaching agreement on price, terms, and conditions, and creating value for both parties. For an organization to function effectively it must have a robust marketing strategy. It must be flexible and evolve along with the changing demands of customers.
For a marketing system to be successful, it should be able to meet the following key requirements. These are applicable for a marketing system of any size - even if you limit your goals to let’s say, get Facebook page likes and nothing more.
* Create a System of Tasks - The marketing system has several tasks that it is designed to perform. These activities should be independent of each other and should not be hindered by constraints such as time or budget. They should all work together to create a seamless performance and deliverables. A good system will be capable of automating most or all of these activities. However, it should allow some human intervention to ensure that things are being completed as expected.
* Create a Storage Mechanism for Marketing Information - This system should allow managers to schedule and store data and marketing information, so they can access it whenever required. However, there should be a minimal amount of management or oversight involved. Otherwise, managers may find themselves doing the same tasks that they previously did, which can become repetitive. Managers should ideally create a workflow that functions as a succession of linked activities. This should ensure that the same tasks are completed at whatever time is most convenient for them, without requiring managers to spend their time chasing down documents, emails, or phone calls. Managers who wish to stay close to the action, but are tired of having to chase around documents, may find this type of system extremely useful.
* Create a Hybrid System - A hybrid marketing system can exist in a variety of forms. Some hybrid systems are web-based marketing systems, where the primary documents and communications take place on the company's website. Other hybrid systems exist where the company's main marketing platform is web-based. Yet other hybrid systems exist, in which the marketing and sales departments take place on separate, independent machines. Regardless of which type of hybrid system is used, though, a manager should be able to access all documents and communicate with team members over email, instant messenger, or Internet chat.
* Create Conflict-Free Communication channels - If the marketing and sales teams aren't supposed to be communicating, then how do you expect them to? These people need to be able to voice their concerns and opinions, even if they're placed on hold e.g., while the phone ring for an in-person appointment. A good hybrid system should be able to create conflict-free channels for such discussions. Alternatively, a system should be able to manage communication in such situations. The system needs to be able to manage both inbound and outbound channels, so the team members know where to go when they have a question or concern.
* Give single-channel managers the freedom to manage their own time - Single channel managers may be highly skilled marketers, but they're still at the mercy of the sales department. They can only be freed up so much by the system, until their skills, coupled with the marketing knowledge of their senior staff, start to conflict. This is where a good marketing process should allow one single manager the freedom to manage his or her own time and budget. This gives the single-channel manager some modicum of control over the budget of his or her team. This also empowers the manager to make the decisions that best suit the company.
* Achieve a right line alignment - Just as two single-channel managers can effectively manage their budgets and handle their in-house communications, two-hybrid systems can do the same for their sales and marketing teams. They should, however, be able to align their right line between the two channels. These alignments mustn't disrupt the production flow of the process in any way. The company needs to remain within budget without sacrificing quality at any point. This means the right line of communication must always remain open between the channels.
* Create a "core group" of the direct sales force - When a hybrid system like a two-channel model is put to work, it's usually only the core group that uses the system, not the entire direct sales force. This "core group" will become the company's best salespeople. Because the core group is the best at selling, the marketing and support teams will often find themselves in a position of being the face of the company. This position is typically rewarded with higher salaries and a greater number of perks than other positions within a company.
