Well-crafted marketing plan crucial
July, 2016
- Two of the key challenges confronting the Insurance Industry are that the penetration levels for insurance solutions that are not mandatory (like motor) in the Gulf is still at a very low level and within this small market size, there is intensive competition, often based on prices, with very little attention paid to consumer insights and needs.
- This means that what consumers get, is not what they want, leaving them with very little reason to be loyal to a particular insurance provider.
- On the other hand, this increases customer retention costs, since companies will have to spend more on marketing efforts.
- Today’s businesses are discovering that effective strategic marketing planning significantly improves the chances of business success by gearing the organization to meet future challenges.
- MTI’s consulting experience shows that many companies who follow conventional business / marketing planning demonstrate 9 common characteristics which impede their progress, some of which are:
- Focusing only on the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) in a passive manner, with little or no consideration to structure, staff and systems.
- Driven by corporate and financial planning needs, which are often misguided, with limited quality time for the customer-focused strategic thought process.
- Detailed documentation, extreme number crunching and lengthy presentations that take too much energy. No concerns are raised at meetings because as humans, we tend to assume that complex equals good while in fact, the opposite is true. A good mechanic will always be able to make you understand what is wrong with your car in simple terms.
- And finally, ending up with a document that is not linked to action.
- In a market place characterized by intensive competition, smarter customers, powerful channels, demanding shareholders and a turbulent environment; conventional strategic marketing planning will be less effective.
- What is required is a versatile, modern and well-crafted plan driven by customer insight.
