Ten Deadly Marketing Sins: Signs and Solutions

Citation

Dupree, J.V. (2005), "Ten Deadly Marketing Sins: Signs and Solutions", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 47-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760510576563

Ten Deadly Sins expresses the essence of Philip Kotler on marketing. It may sound ostentatious to claim one small ten‐chapter tome encapsulates the thought of one of the most prolific writers in the field of marketing. But from the introduction on the state of marketing in business, to the review of the Ten Deadly Sins, to the epilogue of the ten corresponding Commandments, you are reading the core of Kotler as expressed in his textbooks, specialty marketing writings, and his non‐profit work over the past decades.

Written in the “One‐minute” format, Kotler's book declares the common mistakes of ineffective marketing. Each chapter is set up for a quick read with an opening summary of the problem, a box of two‐to‐four bullet‐pointed signs of the problem, followed by a short explanation of each in the text. Then, the second half of each chapter is marked by a box of corresponding bulleted solutions, with two or three paragraphs of general instructions on how to implement them and the probable outcomes. In each portion there are mini‐case examples exemplifying the problem discussed or the solutions offered. The busy marketing professional could read through this book in two hours and then spend days mining his principles and the reference works Kotler cites. The non‐marketing manager would gain significant insight from its concise review of common marketing execution errors and its proofs for the centrality of marketing to the entire firm and its relationship to both the other functional areas and a firm's strategic processes.

After a brief review of the state of marketing today, Kotler focuses the opening two chapters on the customer, then moves to competitor analysis and stakeholder considerations. He uses the next three chapters to review the marketing process; identifying opportunities, planning, product development, and branding. The closing two chapters address marketing organization and the use of technology. The first four chapters, then, are about understanding your constituencies, the middle four are about the functions of marketing, and the last two are on leadership and technology.

Kotler argues in Chapter 1 that poor focus on, and a weak understanding of, the customer are the two most common errors marketers make as they seek to serve the broadest market possible. The key to focusing on the customer is segmentation through accurate description of the customer, prioritization of the segments, and then making a segment manager accountable for developing the segment. Accompanying this focus must be a service attitude flowing from the marketing function through the rest of the firm. A company exists to satisfy customer needs.

In Chapter 2 he builds on this theme, chastising firms for not having a sufficient knowledge base of who the customer really is, why they buy or do not buy your product, and what makes them return the product. Kotler raises an important issue when he reveals that most firms do not understand their return and complaint problems. Even when focusing on customer service, many companies do not have an adequate understanding of what causes the customer to give up and bring it back. Kotler's solutions show a large firm bias. Most solutions are expensive efforts by an internal marketing department or an external consultant. A few solutions, mystery shopping and the use of marketing software, are doable by the medium to small firm. But the very assumption that the solution is “reorganization” of some function, suggests a larger bureaucratic firm. With the growth of entrepreneurial start‐ups and the increasing expectation that department and functional managers run their operations as their own business operations, a few simpler ideas that are easy and affordable for the smaller firm would be a great addition.

Chapters 3 and 4 remind us of the importance of competitors and stakeholders. Knowing who your actual competitor(s) is/are is a powerful point. However, his suggestions for dealing with competitors reads like a simple list without a rationale for his choices. And one of his solutions raises an ethical issue. Do you really want to hire employees from your competitors and face violation of non‐compete agreements, encouraging the sharing of proprietary information? Also, if you can buy them, can you trust them? If they will come to you, are they likely to be your competitors best?

When dealing with stakeholders, Kotler is at his best. He brings home the centrality of people to a firm's marketing success. He reminds us that we can only be as good as our constituencies – employees, investors, suppliers, and vendors – let us be. A successful marketing firm needs to not only think about the customer, but also about all of those people who make the product development, delivery, and service possible. Improvements come from better selection, training, and actively managing them.

Beginning with Chapter 5, we move into the marketing process. Companies miss or do not adequately exploit new opportunities because of weak product management processes. One solution is enhanced innovation and creativity by working with your various partners. Here, Kotler brings in the new concept of “lateral” marketing, developing new products by thinking across products or even down one level. Lateral marketing is a more creative process that ends the common practice of most companies using vertical marketing to develop new products.

In Chapter 6, one of the shortest in the book, Kotler suggests the primary problem with most firms’ marketing plans is they do not have one; that they lack clarity and key elements of objectives, strategy, and tactics. A complete, logical planning process solves this weakness.

Chapters 7 and 8 focus the reader on the product with discussions of product and service development and branding strategies. Essentially, firms not only miss profit opportunities by having too many products or not managing products for profitability, but also in the way they offer supporting services. Cross‐selling, evaluating product profitability, and examining what services to give and which to charge for will add much to the bottom line. Branding is what identifies you to your target market. Here we have a primer in integrated marketing communication as Kotler challenges marketers to rethink their promotion expenditures and evaluate each element's effectiveness. Again, key to brand effectiveness is quantitative financial analysis of promotion expenditures. Dr Kotler continues to remind the product‐ and customer‐oriented marketer that financial analysis is an important tool to marketing success.

The concluding two chapters signal a significant shift in topic – Chapter 9 addresses marketing organization and leadership, while Chapter 10 is a little add‐on about the importance of technology. While titled “… not well organized  … ,” Chapter 9 is all about market leadership, management leadership, development the management staff, and how other functional departments might impact marketing's success. Kotler's concern for the human element of marketing comes through clearly with his emphasis on the marketing team. Dispatching the problem and solution of executive leadership in short order, he devotes significant space for such a short book to developing the marketing team's skills. Using a question format, he closes by discussing the concerns marketers might have with the impact of other functional departments on marketing. It would be helpful if he used his solution format here as well and offered some fixes to these all too common concerns. Battles between marketing and finance or marketing and production are legendary. Some proven solutions would be a great addition here.

Chapter 10’s “… maximum use of technology  … ” is a good reminder of the value of technology, but its briefness and generalities do not bring much in the way of new insights. His “marketing dashboards” are a clever concept for using technology to provide summary reports on sales performance, process performance, and statistical analysis.

Closing with an epilogue of commandments to replace the sins brings the book full circle and ends it on a positive note.

Kotler writes the wisdom of the ages for marketing. The brevity of the book does not leave much space for justification of Kotler's “signs”, nor his “solutions” for his selected problems. The reader needs to “believe” because Dr Kotler's didactic style does not offer much for rationale. While the marketing organization chapter changes the pace and focus of the book, it offers useful insights into the power and importance of leadership and the marketing team. This should have been the concluding chapter with technology simply folded in. These minor shortcomings do not detract from the value of this great summary book. I heartily recommend it to both the marketing professional and non‐marketing manager.