Marketers have

lost credibility in recent years, says a story in The London Telegraph.
And that’s because most marketers lack commercial skills, such as “tough-minded numeracy”, profit responsibility,
financial analysis, and international business.

But how many marketers have those skills? As an open career field, marketing has multiple entry points.
Marketers do not complete a prescribed course of study. And many shy away from any sort of market research,
number-crunching, or financial analysis. That’s a shame, because marketing has the potential to drive revenues,
cut costs, and improve profitability.

Many marketers specialize in communications, event management, web marketing, and direct mail — subfields
that support promotions, one of the “4 P’s” of marketing. Although most of these roles focus on
creative and logistics skills, successful promotions specialists need to calculate return on investment,
set budgets, and understand market research.

And promotions represents just one of the “4 P’s” of marketing.
To make decisions about product, place, and price, marketers need strong numeracy skills.
Calculus, algebra, and arithmatic should be at the disposal of anyone trying to size, value, and tackle a market. Otherwise, marketers end up basing their decisions on instinct, not analysis.
Instinct may help with creative applications, such as advertising, but it won’t help a company
determine where to put its money and resources.

(c) 2004 by Andrea Coutu. Vancouver Marketing Consultant. All rights reserved.