“Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” – Mike Volpe
Exchange relationships subsume and define the business process known as modern marketing. The protocols and practices underlying this phenomenon represent a key area of contemporary business operations. Marketing also plays a critical role in shaping the entrepreneurial thrust to expand the remit of business operations, attain revenue targets, and drive profitability in crowded markets. The modern marketing paradigm remains premised on “an analysis of opportunities in the market, selecting target markets, development of the marketing mix, and management of marketing efforts“. These represent complex, ongoing efforts that must be designed, calibrated, implemented through multiple levels of ideation and flawless execution. In line with this assertion, marketers can derive distinct benefits from a visualization of marketing process mediated by the expanse of flowchart diagrams. These inter-linked illustrations offer marketers stalwart opportunities to design and implement unique marketing strategies in aid of realizing a corporate vision in modern times.
A graded approach, when implemented through flowcharts, could empower business operators drive the pursuit of visualization of marketing process. The illustration could take shape in the form of five silos prefaced with market analysis, service strategy, service planning, marketing programs, and sales exercises. The emerging visual gains deeper meaning when designers input appropriate content in the sub-stages that follow each headline. However, this visualization is primarily text-driven and depends on the interaction between the illustration and marketing strategists. It gains heft when businesses revise and refine the inputs in response to different forms of market realities. We note this technique of visualization of marketing process allows sponsors to fine tune any marketing strategy and implement actions described in the diagram.
The modern enterprise must draw on a variety of talent when business analysts and strategists embark upon the journey of visualization of marketing process. A cascade diagram represents the visual technique that enables such endeavors. In line with this, designers could etch a succession of fluid stages to denote actions that align themselves into a representation of a complete marketing process. These stages may (variously) signify a slew of corporate objectives, SWOT analysis, certain assumptions, marketing audit mechanisms, a forecast of expected results, marketing budgets, alternative plans, etc. At various points in the development stage, designers may elect to input additional information through sub-stages that emerge from each stage. The ensuing complexity imbues the illustration with visual variety and richness that aids the visualization of marketing process. Additionally, strategists could append timelines in consultation with process experts as part of efforts to drive time-bound realization of targets.
New entrants in a market must ideally survey the contours and devise innovative marketing strategy through a visualization of marketing process. In broad brush strokes, such an effort may unfurl inside a flowchart that depicts actions such as conducting market research, planning marketing activities, managing promotional events, soliciting and acting upon customer feedback, optimizing sales activities, reviewing marketing effectiveness, etc. When this matrix is designed (and subsequently refined) for Internet retailers, the flowchart could present the seller with a unique blueprint to drive marketing efforts in the digital domain. The feedback from such implementation should be fed into the master illustration as part of efforts to refresh and upgrade the marketing process. We note such an instance of visualization of marketing process allows the nascent enterprise to gain direction and extract significant mileage from organizational resources.
Further to the above, operators of online businesses must adopt a digital-first strategy as part of visualization of marketing process. The use of marketing collaterals such as digital advertisements, display banners, in-app promotions, landing pages, pop-up messages, electronic coupons, social media posts, etc. must feature prominently in such visualization. Therefore, any flowchart diagram gains an additional thrust in terms of depicting the placement of these very visible marketing collaterals. Additionally, the illustration may depict the various platforms (such as social media and email) through which the marketing mechanisms must be implemented to ensure greater visibility for the sponsor enterprise. The designer may venture to include additional levels of process in a bid to prime future marketing campaigns with greater levels of success.
Specialized marketing campaigns must drive a sharp focus on individual customers. This stance is necessary for enterprises that cater to large, million-dollar contracts that emanate from specific clientele. The visualization of marketing process in such instances demands bespoke campaigns that spotlight the benefits offered by a service provider. A flowchart designed to outline such marketing processes may include comprehensive data that indicates the service provider has customized its offerings in a bid to bring enhanced value to a bulge-bracket client. Through its various stages, the diagram may spotlight specific improvements in product and service offerings, thereby enhancing the scope for the sponsor’s success. We note such bespoke visualization of marketing process demands high-level interventions from the sponsor organization during the design stage. The subsequent editions of the illustration could demonstrate innovation in the service of capturing high value clientele.
An interesting visualization of marketing process occurs when sponsors research different aspects of a market – such as customer needs, requirements and buying power; a concept product; and a potential prototype prior to outlining a marketing process. When etched inside a flowchart, such a stance allows business operators to identify the authentic needs of customer segments, explore the needs of a possible future market, and investigate the potential of new products and services. For instance, a modern automobile manufacturer can embark on visualization of marketing process for a new category of automotive products. The content of the flowchart could explore the aspects detailed above in a bid to bring to market an innovative personal transportation platform that defies legacy expectations. Additionally, the flowchart could describe a new marketing mix featuring product positioning, product pricing, advertising and communication campaigns, novel sales channels, etc. In effect, the flowchart serves as a tool that attunes the new product offering to the incipient expectations that populate the minds of future consumers.
Video marketing has proved itself an adept standard bearer of efforts focused on visualization of marketing process. Such techniques, when designed inside a flowchart diagram, could help create a diversified illustration that portrays a range of digital artifacts; these include infographics, how-to videos, excerpts from webinars, testimonials, demo videos, client success stories, the video promotional, and more. This form of visualization creates an image in the minds of readers and spurs the formation of an actual marketing process. In addition, designers could add variety to the diagram in pursuit of higher levels of visualization that prefaces enlightened attempts at crafting a marketing strategy underlined by avowed corporate policy. Such attempts at visualization gain higher levels of buy-in when designers invite participation from every level of the sponsor organization. Further, such a strategy bears potential to resonate with new-age consumers comprised largely of digital natives.
The modern organization can benefit immensely from focused attempts at visualizing the modern marketing process. They could utilize the inputs from above to frame bespoke marketing strategies that expand market access for sponsors. The use of specialized consultants can aid the visualization process, as can inputs and suggestion emanating from interested members of the sponsor organization. Sponsors must invest effort and energy to drive execution and implementation since these alone can ensure the primary efforts at visualization bear fruit in the ultimate analysis.
