First, you will need to lay the groundwork for an effective marketing program. To do this, you should take the following steps

develop a marketing team that understands marketing principles;

clarify your market niche;

develop a positioning statement;

establish marketing goals.

Developing a Marketing Team

Whether or not your organization has a marketing department, you will need an organization-wide internal marketing team to help you build a marketing orientation throughout your organization. The team will oversee the planning, implementation, and evaluation of marketing efforts. It should be composed of representatives from such groups as:

management;

the board of directors (if there is a board);

service personnel and administrative staff;

community groups, including political leaders and volunteers.

Each of these groups plays a different role in the marketing effort. A marketer's role is to establish program goals and make the necessary program decisions to meet the realities of the marketplace. Board members can provide vision to the organization and should be involved, if possible, in helping to set the direction of the marketing team, even if they do not participate in later operational meetings. Staff from operational levels bring the immediate realities of dealing with the marketplace to the team and also are able to communicate the decisions of the team back to their respective departments. Community leaders and volunteers can provide a useful community perspective and solicit information from other community members that can help the team make decisions.

At the first meeting, the team should discuss marketing principles and marketplace opportunities and difficulties that led you to convene a marketing team. They need to review the strategic plan and discuss how marketing can help the organization reach its planning goals. Once the team understands these important background issues, they can begin to clarify a market niche for the organization.

ශිල්ප 64