This is a summary of an article originally published in The Marketer, the publication for members of The Chartered Institute of Marketing:

The main thrust of the article is that successful businesses don’t allow marketing to ‘run free’, they take specific steps to set marketing goals that are closely linked to sales and business strategies.

Here are the top four tips I drew out of it:

• Know your customer.  Make sure everyone in your business understands what your customers’ challenges and their needs are.  “Companies where everyone has a clear understanding of their customer always perform better.”
• Involve sales people in marketing strategy. Problems occur when marketing focuses on long-term brand awareness, leaving sales to sort out short-term revenues. A large part of business-to-business marketing is about supporting sales, so make sure marketing plans are based on a clear understanding of sales goals and challenges.
• Set specific marketing goals. Drill down to the specifics of what you want marketing to achieve and start putting numbers to those goals. You won’t get it right first time, but it’s only when you start measuring and comparing that you will see which types of marketing investment deliver the best returns for your particular products and markets.
• Look further for creativity. Marketing thrives on creative thinking. But true innovation requires inputs from different people with diverse perspectives. Make sure staff from different functions come together regularly to discuss issues, contribute ideas and celebrate successes.