Flow
Similar to manufacturing environments, marketing supply chains are primarily governed by a process or "flow" that typically involves:
- Creation – identifying and developing marketing materials to meet customer need and/or to support sales initiatives
- Production – getting materials in their final form either through sourcing, printing or Web development
- Warehousing – technology, storage strategy, planning
- Fulfillment – order management, service standards, shipping & tracking Use/Consumption – how materials are used & displayed in the field and stored based on seasonality or product/ service availability
- Feedback – collecting information for continuous refinement; from inventory reporting, management metrics, field/ customer feedback
Each of these functions requires high levels of coordination and support to ensure that they are managed effectively and also seamlessly integrated into the larger supply chain.
Over time, most supply chains can grow cumbersome and unwieldy as new partners, new products and new technologies are added, resulting in increased cost, decreased service levels and an overall loss of control. Some of the world’s largest consulting firms estimate that up to 60% of marketing costs are related to non-product ancillary areas (distribution, people, freight, storage, obsolescence, technology, inventory management, etc.).
Companies have traditionally tackled cost reduction from a "largest spend first" philosophy. As a result, some very substantial cost savings opportunities are often overlooked, such as indirect materials and supplies – those products and services that are not a core or direct part of the company’s finished product.
By taking a complete Marketing Supply Chain approach, identifying inefficiencies and developing best business practices, companies can improve their marketing supply chain process. Outsourcing the process can help manage total marketing supply chain cost, and can provide an opportunity for measurement in marketing, one of the major challenges in the profession.
This is the alchemy of marketing and comprises the cerebral skills sets that drive top-line company growth including: Creative development and brand positioning, Consumer targeting and insights, Media strategy, Portfolio management, Price positioning. The processes through which these are developed are characteristically reliant on a small number of highly skilled individuals working within a loose organisational structure and workflow.
Read more about this topic: Marketing Supply Chain
Famous quotes containing the word flow:
“Though your views are in straight antagonism to theirs, assume an identity of sentiment, assume that you are saying precisely that which all think, and in the flow of wit and love roll out your paradoxes in solid column, with not the infirmity of a doubt.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning how to learn.”
—Loris Malaguzzi (1920–1994)
“By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:—”
—Francis Miles Finch (1827–1907)