Marketing Solutions

"Marketing research is about providing answers to questions" - Grey van der Hoff

IBIS® assists companies in improving their economical standpoint through facilitating improvement processes, market research, surveys, formulating business and marketing plans as well as conducting competitiveness assessments.

Our marketing expertise includes assisting organisations to develop new and existing markets, both local and export by conducting various activities such as market research and effective marketing planning. Activities undertaken include Export Market Research, Marketing Plans and Marketing and Sales Audits.

Export Market Research

The American Marketing Association defines marketing research as: "the systematic gathering, recording, analysing and interpreting of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services". Export Market Research includes market assessments. The methodology includes 4 stages.

Marketing Plans

Formulating and developing marketing plans. Marketing strategies to achieve these objectives in terms of:

  • Product or service e.g. packaging
  • Price strategies including terms and discounts
  • Distribution
  • Promotion e.g. advertising, personal selling, promotion and PR

The framework applied to develop marketing plans includes the following:

Marketing and Sales Audits

Conducting marketing and sales audits entails a systematic assessment of all marketing and sales resources and how they are applied. 

Focus includes:

  • How sales people spend their time and what focus is placed on new client development
  • Quality of sales and marketing management
  • Growth trends and market shares
  • Territory planning and market coverage

Surveys

Customer service perception surveys is undertaken to ascertain what the market perceptions are. Fundamentally, the philosophy around this is as the saying goes "Talk to the market it will talk back".

The survey looks at:

  • How the organisation's staff are perceived
  • Their product or service offering
  • Their price competitiveness
  • Is the branding and advertising sufficient to create awareness?
  • Is product development receiving the attention it deserves?
  • Sales support
  • Quality of marketing tools compared to competitors
  • Frequency of contact required
  • Weaknesses that need to be addressed