Achieving the balance in multi product-brand marketing..

Some product brands will do better than others. How to balance your focus on all your product brands. 

Marketing managers in the multi-product enterprise are faced with the unique challenge of achieving the perfect "performance-balance" in positioning of all their product-brands in the market. 

Organizations and businesses that have more than one product-brands to place in a given market are often also grappling with insufficient resources for their marketing plans. Naturally, priority goes to the newest product and what performed best in previous business periods. This leaves the focus out for the products-brands that perform poorly or averagely in the market but that would do better if "pushed". 

That product delivering excellent sales all year round deserves your time. It is worth good media play.  Yet there is that product-brand launched 3 years ago? Is your enthusiasm for it wearing off? The MBA, the banking product, the newly launched software product, the App or car model launched previously is slowly losing a following in the market. If there are tens of such products, the balancing act in the multi-product stable can be dizzying. 

Marketing managers have always been hard pressed to yank up equal zeal for each product. You can manage to get 3 or 4 of your products performing well in the marketplace, if you have the budget and a well laid media plan. You may also hire brand managers for each product that balance attention to each beyond the media plan. In some circumstances, you may not have enough resources to hire the personnel. How can you achieve to display in the market?

Appointing brand managers for each product present the best solution-  large manufacturers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) have beaten this path. Marketing Consultants such as Wheels Media can also come in handy.

Prepare a good brief for your marketing communication consultant on all your needs and highlight pain areas. Marketing consultants are always as good as your brief,they bring in fresh energy. The medium and small ones work harder to deliver quality results. Sign NDAs with them and insists they participate in every of your marketing meeting. Start this practice early. 

Move away from the tendency of planning activities and events yourself while only bringing in the consultant to actualize a set of laid actions and events. If your consultant does not participate in generating ideas at the planning phase, then you should demand better of yourself not of them. If consultant does not bring in new ideas and do so early to save you time and money, push them. If they are not distributing their energy to all your products, press them harder.

Proper coordination between Marketing management and consultants continue to ensure a balanced focus and sustained market engagements resulting in a good spread of play and energy across your stable of product brands. Your marketing  consultant should be aware of your marketing constraints to help cut down your stress. Overall, this will help you achieve your bottom and top-line objectives.

Most of the questions we ask ourselves is whether balance in multi- product positioning is achieved at the planning phase. If it is, the roll out will bear results.  Question to ask early enough are: Do we have fair distribution of play for the various product brands? Have we exhausted creativity and resources that can help us push our products in the market? Do we have a comeback strategy for any product that limps along?  Will the performance of the existing real estate projects dwindle now that you have launched another exciting project?  With good planning,  that good buzz around your market ready software solution should not have to leave the perception in the market that it is now all you are focussed on. Consultants can help you drive marketing efforts that pay good dividend.

Talk to us, we are here to help:

 kamaungunyi

@wheelsmedia.co.ke, T

el:  +254 721 707995