Business activities are either primary or supporting activities. Both types of activities contribute to the existence, development, and growth of the ideas and their sustainability. Misunderstanding and wrong perception of primary activities can hinder the business in pursuing its strategic goals. Marketing is an area that our country and business firms should focus on to excel. It is the cornerstone and foundation for any business to succeed and become efficient in terms of resources and effective in achieving long-term goals and objectives through value creation and provision of solutions to the market needs, wants and demands.
Marketers believe that marketing activities as an investment that generates revenue for the firm, and some stakeholders consider marketing an expense to the organization instead of prioritizing it as an investment that generates revenue and customers for the business. This opinion piece of writing will explain that marketing is an indispensable primary activity that can create value and solutions to the market needs, wants, demands, and preferences. Moreover, the column will focus on ways marketing can help startups, small, medium, and large businesses from ideating to creating value and providing solutions to the customer needs, wants, preferences, and demands.
Many people think that marketing is all about selling and advertising. In simple terms, Sales and advertising are small integral parts of marketing, but they cannot cover the whole marketing concept. Marketing focuses on formulating successful strategic plans, crafting guidelines and policies, and setting up procedures and action plans to understand the market through data-driven research and customer analysis with the ultimate goal of achieving a competitive advantage in customer delight and retention.
Developing a marketing strategy is the first step for the firm to create value and solutions to the market needs, wants, and demands. Tactically, marketing focuses on dealing with the target market of the firm. Moreover, providing excellent customer care service through effective communication with an outstanding business convenience, exceptional coordination among business processes, reasonable price, and appealing physical evidence to the customers. As a result, this is a marketing model and tool for any business eager and enthusiastic about pursuing its marketing objectives in the target market.
There is also monitoring evaluation and learning phase of marketing as an input to the strategic phase of the marketing cycle. Any firm should have a marketing department that seeks feedback from its target customers and enhance company values and solutions. To realize customer retention and satisfaction, the firm should do market research, revise product design and development, and use company offerings regularly. In this phase, businesses learn more about their products and customers; discover new market opportunities that can help them realize business growth.
Any type or form of business can utilize marketing as a model and tool for ideating, prototyping, and creating value and solutions for the world. Some people will argue that entrepreneurs solely develop ideas. However, marketers believe that customer value should be the centre of any idea to become a business opportunity that provides solutions to customer preferences and demands. Some people dream of ideas that may not have market opportunities. Marketing is a tool and model for developing business ideas and turning them into great market opportunities. This part of the column will challenge the hypothetical process of perceiving great ideas beginning with brainstorming and imagination, crafting well-articulated business plans, prototyping, and then financing it while believing that the marketing and sales activity is the least and the last one to think about when creating value and solutions.
As someone passionate about sales and marketing, I believe that creative ideas start from market understanding. Moreover, sales and marketing pioneers can recognize those opportunities and turn them into market solutions. The market space can be physical or digital; those who can analyze the market and understand it well will develop exceptional products. For example, you have heard about the clubhouse, twitter space, Facebook space, and many other applications, which have been introduced in the market in the last two years due to market opportunities that required innovative solutions. Market understanding is a major prerequisite for any idea to become a market opportunity that creates innovative solutions, customer value, and offerings to the world. In essence, the market is the customer, and anyone who understands them well will have the competitive edge to become a market leader in their industry.
Networking and having connections are instrumental for the start-ups and different types of businesses to be successful and mobilize resources for the market opportunity in particular and the business as a whole. The market involvement and the close interaction between the marketer and the customers, suppliers, and distributors will give the marketer the competitive edge to work with them and convince customers to buy the new offerings repetitively. A proud marketer once said that your network and connections are your greatest asset which could help marketers create wealth, value, and solutions for the market and the organization.
Entrepreneurs worry about sources of financing and which percentage will be shares or loans. Using marketing as a model and tool to assess ideas and business processes certainly increases the likelihood of creating value and solutions to the customer preferences and choices. As a marketer, we believe in responding to the customer ‘market’ needs, demands, and wants, and creating value and solutions to the market will guarantee to any entrepreneur angels that can invest in his ideas and solutions. Ideas and solutions are different in their meaning and context. Anyone has thoughts and opinions but not answers and results. We are in the conceptual age where almost all the information you need to make a decision is available; the better you understand and digest market information, the more chance you have to make informed choices about market solutions and values that you can create. For that reason, marketers trust their market instincts will give them the required answers to mobilize both financial and non-financial resources.
Mastering the art of sales is necessary for any individual to excel in creating value and solutions to the market needs, wants and demands. I acknowledge the efforts of SIMAD iLAB and other institutions that train young generations to turn their passion into reality. Giving sales assignments to their students and inviting successful businesspersons as apprentices can boost the mindset and attitude of the students to become resilient during the difficult times of their startups. You may see someone renting an office space, hiring a secretary, and acting like a boss without making a single sale. A simple formula for any business to survive and succeed is to build profitable customers through innovative solutions, value creation and customer experience.
Establishing the Somali Marketing Society, marketing think tanks, and marketing consulting firms can help current businesses and start-ups to generate stable revenues for their institutions and offerings. It can also enforce our business to be proactive and exploit the strategic locations of Somalia. Moreover, the large populations of our neighbouring countries, the entrepreneurial and resilient spirit of Somali people, and the utilization of marketing knowledge creation institutions in Somalia can transform Somalia into an economic hub for the continent and the world. Being a marketing agent for Somalia through data-driven and conceptualized information can change the negative narrative about Somalia while also promoting our income-generating sectors to the world.
To attract foreign direct investment opportunities in Somalia, we here to acknowledge the efforts of SOMINVEST on positioning Somalia as an economic hub by promoting our young and energetic population, our strategic geographic position, and maximizing our untapped income-generating sectors such as farming, fishing, livestock, energy, tourism, infrastructure, and transportation. I would encourage SOMINVEST to focus more on publishing the endorsed commercial laws on their website and promote the energy, infrastructure and transportation, and tourism sectors.
The goal of any business is to achieve customer loyalty and retention while also maintaining their satisfaction and delight by providing creative solutions and value through its innovative offerings and services. For that reason, it starts with the market opportunity not vague and personally attractive ideas. Genius marketers can create business solutions and customer experiences that would last forever. In essence, marketing is the only piece that solves any business puzzle.
Abdirahman Abdinor Mohamed, Entrepreneur & Consultant
