Marketing 101: Partnering to Build Customer Relationship
Marketing can’t do it alone in creating customer value. Under the company-wide strategic plan, marketing must work closely with other departments to form an effective internal company value chain and with other companies in the marketing system to create an external value delivery network that jointly serves customers.
Partnering with Other Company Departments
Each company department can be thought of as a link in the company’s internal value chain. Value chain is the series of internal departments that carry out value-creating activities to design, produce, market, deliver, and support a firm’s products.
For example, True Value Hardware’s goal is to create customer value and satisfaction by providing shoppers with the hardware and home improvement products they need at affordable prices along with top-notch customer service. Marketers at the retail-owned cooperative play an important role. They learn what customers need and help the 3,500 independent True Value retailers stock their store shelves with the desired products at competitive prices. They prepare advertising and merchandising programs and assist shoppers with customer service. Through these and other activities, True Value marketers help deliver value to customers.
However, True Value’s marketers, both at the home office and in stores, need help from the company’s other functions. True Value’s ability to help you “Start Right. Start Here.” depends on purchasing’s skill in developing the needed suppliers and buying from them at low cost. True Value’s information technology people must provide fast and accurate information about which products are selling in each store. And its operations people must provide effective, low-cost merchandise handling and delivery.
A company’s value chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Success depends on how well each group performs its work of adding customer value and on how the company coordinates the activities of various functions. One marketing expert puts it this way: “Engaging customers today requires commitment from the entire company. We’re all marketers now.”
Partnering with Others in the Marketing System
More companies today are partnering with other members of the supply chain—suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, customers—to improve the performance of the customer value delivery network. Value delivery network is a network composed of the company, suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, customers who partner with each other to improve the performance of the entire system in delivering customer value.
Next post, we will talk about marketing strategy and the marketing mix.
Disclaimer:
The article above contains my personal views/reflections on the subject matter; As well as some excerpts from the book "Principles of Marketing" written by Kotler and Armstrong.
