CALENDAR

Editor 's note: submit events, meetings, workshops and conferences at least one month in advance to cibm@news-gazette.com for inclusion in Mark Your Calendar.

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May 9
EaRN Leads/Speed Networking Program 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, 303 W. Kirby Ave., Champaign The Exchange and Referral Network is the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce's version of a combination Leads/Speed Networking program. Registration opens at 3 p.m. May 2 for this session. Only one person per industry may participate per week. Registration is first-come, first-served. If your industry category is already filled when you register, your name will be kept on the waiting list. If the first registration is unable to attend the following week's session, the person next on the waiting list according to the time stamp will be contacted. If you are unable to attend the session, notify the chamber as soon as possible so that it may fill the seat. Failure to do so may prevent you from participating in future sessions.

May 15
May 15, 23 Coaching: Developing Others 8 a.m. to noon, May 15 and 23; 1 to 5 p.m. May 23
Parkland College Business Training, 1315 N. Mattis Ave., Champaign Individual contributors face regular challenges in performing their work, and a supervisor's job is to help them work through these challenges. Learn how to recognize the challenges faced in developing others; demonstrate a variety of listening and asking techniques to help others feel confident making decisions; and conduct focused development conversations that result in professional development and growth. Fee: $135. Registration deadline: May 8 for May 15 session; May 16 for May 23 sessions.

May 21
May 21, 23 Communications Skills for Managers 1 to 5 p.m.
Parkland College Business Training, 1315 N. Mattis Ave., Champaign Increase your reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency with real-life scenarios and interactive exercises from Cindy Guthrie. Learn proven practical concepts and techniques that will help you communicate more effectively with others, deliver your messages clearly, ask questions and make successful presentations. Fee: $265. Registration deadline: May 14.

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Archive June 2008

MARKETING SURVEY

Survey says: people matter most
in marketing strategy

By Paul E. Donohue
CIBM Contributor
Published: Jun. 2008

What did businesses surveyed in Champaign County say was most important to their success? 61 percent of businesses surveyed said having the right employees was most important to the success of their organizations, according to a phone survey performed by Research Survey Service. It contacted 100 businesses in Champaign County by phone. The response rate was 37 percent.

Without good people, no business strategy can succeed.

What puzzles me is the component businesses chose as least important from a list that included human resources, sales, strategic planning and marketing--37 percent of the businesses surveyed chose marketing from that list. Now, that doesn't necessarily suggest you don't think marketing is important. I think you do. But from the list presented, if forced to make a choice, businesses said marketing was least important to the success of their business.

Why?

"Maybe the responses were skewed," said Jeffrey Kurtz, an adjunct professor in the College of Business at the University of Illinois who reviewed the results of the study.

Kurtz teaches an MBA class where students work with small businesses on real world problems.

"Nine out of 12 case studies this semester are marketing related," he said. In the years he spent consulting business owners prior to teaching, marketing was the biggest challenge for the majority of small businesses, he said.

Here's another surprise. Branding is the most important element to the success of your marketing plan. That's what a majority of business respondents selected, 37 percent of the total, from a list that included a strategic plan, return on investment, external communication and internal communication. When you consider that the purpose of marketing is to find, attract, retain and grow customer relationships, how you measure that activity, in the form of return on investment, would seem most important to defining success.

But that's the fun part about market surveys. You rarely obtain definitive answers. Almost always, the answers lead to more questions. And that's good. It forces you to probe further and ask more questions until you discover true insight about the customers and market you are trying to serve.

-Paul E. Donohue is an independent sales, marketing and communications consultant with 25 years experience as a media and marketing executive. He can be reached at pdo@pauledonohue.com. He partnered with Research Survey Services to conduct this survey.

The new year will bring some changes to Central Illinois Business magazine.

The magazine will now be printed bimonthly. You won't see an issue in January; the next issue will cover February and March.

In 2013, we'll launch an improved Central Illinois Business website, at www.centralillinoisbusiness.com, that will allow us to provide more timely updates of many of the economic indicators we publish in the magazine, as well as other current business news and event information that you won't see in the printed publication.

We are working on stories on a variety of business issues we think you'll want to read about. And if you have an idea of a story or issue you'd like to read about in Central Illinois Business -- either in the printed magazine or online -- please let me know.

The magazine will again be printed on glossy paper, as the Forty Under 40 issue was in November.

We hope you continue to enjoy the printed magazine, and that you also look at the improved website once it's launched for more news about the local business community.

Archive June 2008

Survey says: people matter most in marketing strategy

Survey says: people matter most
in marketing strategy