Creating Strategy: Market Intelligence is More Than Just Data

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “an organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to the customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stake holders.” It has been my observation that today much of what we do is data driven.

Don’t get me wrong: data is important and drives market campaigns that should lead to returns (“the communicating”) and the improvement of the product (“delivering value”) and can tell you about possibly what people want (the “creating”). But data is not actually where things start especially in service industries.

We often talk about relationship marketing/networking combined with campaigns and research data as factors that drive the market and build the strategy. The problem with this approach is: 1. people assume that anyone can read the data 2. data can be analyzed alone 3. just because work your network doesn't mean that you will get market intelligence served up to you.

Here ’s the truth: not everyone can do marketing.

Data cannot be read alone to get the true picture of a market.

Managing customer relationships takes a special type of person with a special skill set.

You need someone with analytical tools (like intelligence) who listens (with intelligence) and knows the information needed to understand the situation without prejudice or any convenient “wants” (listening intelligence).

Of course I am over simplifying, I am aware. Data makes managing the complexities of international marketing easier and relationships give you insights to the market that might not be apparent. There’s more to manage here than price, promotion, product and placement; there’s economies and foreign and domestic environments, cultural influences, political and legal restrictions not to mention all of these are constantly shaping and re-shaping and I haven’t touched on partnership management. And there’s more I have not mentioned! All these factors contribute to shaping the marketing strategy. It's complicated. It takes intelligence and a certain intuition to really analyze everything and truly understand the facts.

Listening to government conversations and partner universities and potential students always gives good insights on strategy and what is to come. L to R: 1. Signing an MOU with Thailand’s Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin (RMUTR). 2. At a Canadian government fair in Sao Paulo 3. Meeting with government officials in Panama at the embassy 4. Meeting with government officials in Bogota, Colombia.

Too many times have I sat in rooms with marketers and supposed business strategist while someone was talking and came away with a completely different idea of what had been said. I remember being in a group of marketers where a common agent let it slip they were holding onto accounts receivable. When we left, I asked if anyone had understood what he had said and were concerned. No one had and no one was. They had only heard all the wonderful things the agent had promised in the upcoming season (in exchange for some marketing fees). I then checked the payment data and sure enough over the previous year, payment was coming in slower and slower. I then instructed the marketer in charge to back away from the relationship which he had fostered over the years. He did not like the instruction, as the returns had been rewarding. The agent of course went bankrupt within the year. Everyone was shocked and it caused serious damages to some businesses. We were ok of course because we had already changed our strategy. But what if I hadn’t been in that meeting? What if I hadn't been listening for the wrong things? What if I hadn’t reacted? It would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars lost.

This is just one example. Government meetings are particularly interesting because they love to "telegraph" what they are about to do through hints, vague statements and silence. How many of us knew what the government was going to do with their international student visa changes? Only a small group of us in the industry, but not many. Sometimes it's what's not being said that is telling.

As marketers we must listen to more than the just the data but to a combination of things. We also must have the analytical skills to understand the source and the story. I often credit my English degree for this as it was essentially a degree in analytical studies, where we analyzed the language and how things were being said, who the source was and what the motivation is for saying things. You can learn alot from reading between the lines. If you are not listening for it or don’t have the intelligence to connect the dots, you are not a good marketer or strategist.

The point is conversations are just as (or sometimes more) important as the data, but you need someone who can hear the meaning and how it relates to the market.

One of the issues that international education sector struggles with is market intelligence. Many people have the title of marketer but, in reality, they are sales and recruitment. A true marketer analyzes the data, listens for the information and make the connections.

This issue came up at a previous job. The company’s problem (and ultimately mine) was we had recruiters posing as marketers. This meant we were missing crucial information that could shape market strategy. It became very apparent, as this was a young company, that for us to be successful I would have to take the lead in all markets until a proper analysist /marketer could be found. This meant I had to dedicate myself to travel to see result. Now I know a lot of you have a romantic idea of travel and probably are thinking to yourself “that’s not really a sacrifice”. Truth is I am not a fan of business travel. It’s hard work with little to no personal returns. Business travel to me means a grueling schedule all done while jet lagged. Not to mention I have a young family that I don’t like being away from for long lengths of time and I have done my fair share of travel over my life (I have been to over 60 countries) so I am not seeing anything new – thank goodness as I would not be able to enjoy it with the schedule I have.

It is important to get out and be in the market, have the meetings with partners, clients and governments. Listen to what is being said and form strategy accordingly. Something I think many of the executives don’t do. It is so important to forming strategy. Not to mention that when traveling with a recruiter it is a great time to set expectations and do some team building. It’s also a great time after meetings to hear your recruiter’s analysis of the meeting and if they earn that title of marketer.