 |
|
|
|
| |
 Back |
Four Basic Marketing Orientations:
Only One Focuses on Customers
Many nonprofits have become increasingly interested in customer and
marketing orientations to management. Some erroneously believe that
these are one and the same thing. They aren't necessarily.
With thanks to Professors Philip Kotler and Alan Andreasen, leaders
in the field of nonprofit marketing, here are the four basic marketing
orientations that a for-profit or nonprofit organization can take
- and some considerations regarding how they relate to nonprofit operations.
- Product orientation
In the early 1900's, the name of the game was invention: automobiles,
electric lights, radio. In the absence of equal competitors to
these remarkable products, people bought what was produced. "Just
make a better mousetrap and they'll buy it" had some legitimacy
as a strategy.
There is a parallel outlook among some nonprofits today. It is
often articulated like this: "We know this is the service
these people need. We can't compromise it." I call this the
"spinach approach," because it almost instantly conjures
your mother's finger-wagging attempt to "market" green
vegetables to you as a child.
While it is important for nonprofits to provide services that
people need, the truth is this: what people want has a great deal
to do with what they purchase - with their money, their time,
their energy, or their attention. Whether you're selling a commercial
product or a nonprofit service, unless it meets the desires of
people, most of them won’t buy it - even if they need it. Nonprofits
need to structure their services so that they factor this reality
into their program design.
- Production orientation
Once other capitalists saw that cars, radios, and electric lights
translated into riches for business owners, the race was on to
produce them. With uniqueness gone as a focus, industrialists
such as Henry Ford redefined marketing success by accenting product
production and distribution over the product itself. Ford taught
the commercial world that the path to fortune, once competition
sets in, lies in producing and selling a comparable product less
expensively.
A production orientation can be seen in many nonprofit organizations.
Some social service organizations measure success based on how
many bodies come through the door, not on how many receive effective
help. Some environmental organizations measure success by the
number of members they have, rather than whether the river is
any cleaner than it was three years ago.
While it is important to know how many people the organization
is serving and at what resource cost, the truth is this: an organization
can have hundreds of people filing through the door every day
and still be making no change in the circumstance it is trying
to ameliorate.
The next time a board member pushes hard for quantitative data
that others find of questionable value, listen closely to whether
this is her orientation. Number of members, people served, students
taught...these may be valid data to collect, but they should not
be the only measurement of success, or they will become the dominant
marketing orientation and an end in themselves.
- Sales orientation
What happens when demand shrinks, as it did for the commercial
world when the Great Depression hit? Everybody has about the same
product, and produces and distributes it about equally well -
a level playing field. When the competition is roughly equal,
what makes the difference? Selling.
The sales approach to marketing is still pervasive in the commercial
sector today. In this orientation, change does not come to the
product, the production process, or the distribution system -
it comes in the activities designed to increase demand for that
specific product:
- Advertising
- Point-of-purchase displays
- One-to-one selling
- Promotion events.
Erroneously, this is the orientation that many nonprofit leaders
equate with good nonprofit marketing. You hear it echoed in the
comments of direct mail devotees who push unrelated "premiums"
on potential donors - stamps, name stickers, etc. - and argue
that, "It doesn’t matter what we're doing, just give me a
good mailing list and I can raise the money." It resounds
in the thinking of board members who complain, "If we would
only get on television more often, we wouldn’t have this problem"
(almost regardless of the problem). It is obvious in statements
such as, "We'd be getting more people into the clinic if
we just had a better/new/jazzier brochure."
While good promotion often is an important component of nonprofit
success and vitality, the truth is this: good promotions, great
PR, and lots of name recognition can keep in business organizations
that are making no significant inroads on their missions.
- Customer orientation
What the first three orientations share is this: they are marketing
what the organization - either commercial or nonprofit - wants
to offer.
The most current marketing thinking now realizes that this orientation
is flawed because it does not start at the point of critical decision
making: the customer. Ultimately, it is always that person who
determines if an action will be taken - whether the action is
buying a pair of clothes, using a condom, or dumping car oil down
the sewer. Today's best marketing, therefore, starts where the
action is: with customers' needs and wants.
How can you tell if anyone on your board or staff is customer
oriented? These are the kinds of questions they might ask:
- "Do we know why people come to the center?"
- "Do we know how people heard about us and why they
decided to become involved?"
- "Has anything changed about our customers that makes
it harder for them to get here - work schedules, bus routes,
seasonal family obligations?"
Quality products and services, efficiently produced and distributed,
and good promotion are all still important factors in the successful
marketing of nonprofit ventures. However, the critical factor
is identifying and incorporating what your target markets value,
want, and need so that you can design and deliver appropriate
products and services.
As competition gets tougher in the nonprofit world - for dollars,
volunteer time, attention, and involvement - customer-oriented
marketing is going to be increasingly important. Those organizations
that do not ask their customers what they want or need (then supply
it) will find themselves losing out to those who do.
©Rebecca K. Leet. Adapted from an article in Strategic Governance
for Nonprofit Executives and Boards, August 1996. |
|
|
