Marketing Ability Blog

We’re in the final stages of putting together our delivery programme for 2008/09 CIM courses that we teach in Peterborough - and that process has been complicated by the changes that are taking place in the syllabus for the various levels of qualification. It would also appear that there is some confusion among potential applicants for these courses about what the changes involve and what their practical impact will be.

I thought it might be useful therefore to give a brief outline here!

Professional Certificate in Marketing

From September 2008, this qualification has a new syllabus and new methods of assessment.

The syllabus comprises four modules and the assessment methods are laid down for each module as follows:

•  Marketing Essentials
  •  3-hour written examination
•  Assessing the Marketing Environment
•  case-study project in preparation for…
•  …3-hour written examination
•  Marketing Information & Research
•  research-based project
•  Stakeholder Marketing
•  work-based project

This syllabus reflects a new attainment level for this qualification - the equivalent of first-year degree level.

Professional Diploma in Marketing

The syllabus for this qualification will change in September 2009 when assessment methods will also change to a similar (prescribed) model to the new Certificate model described above. Starting the Diploma in September 2008 therefore, is the last opportunity that candidates will have to choose their assessment route (either by examination or by work-based assignment).

In addition, from 2009 the entry-level qualifications for the Diploma are likely to be higher than now and the qualification itself will be at the level of a final year Honours Degree equivalent.

Professional Postgraduate Diploma

Again, the syllabus and assessment methods for this qualification are under review and will also change in September 2009 - we still await further details from the CIM. In the meantime, this qualification is assessed by written examination, although we do have accreditation to offer one of the modules (Managing Marketing Performance) by a work-based assignment route.

I hope that clarifies the position for those interested - contact us if you’ve any further queries.

Last year we ran the first of our Marketing-bites events: an afternoon of short presentations covering a range of marketing-related subjects.

Now we are getting ready to hold another of these in Peterborough and we are deciding which subjects to cover. Suggestions so far include:

• Marketing and the law - a review of the essential rules, codes and legislation marketers need to keep abreast of.
• Marketing and the environment - a tour of the ‘green marketing’ agenda and the practical implications.
• How can marketing truly support sales? - a look at how marketers can really help sales people achieve greater things for our organisations.

Do any of these subjects sound good to you? Are there any others you would like us to cover? Add a comment or drop us a line to let us know what you think.

Just announced today, the results of the 2008 survey of marketers’ opinions of which companies display the best green credentials show Marks & Spencer leading the field!

However. the most notable result of the poll (carried out by YouGov on behalf of Marketing Week magazine) is the lack of consistency among marketers as to which brands they consider really demonstrate true green credentials rather then “greenwashing”. For example, Tesco ranks in first place as the brand that has made the fewest inroads on green issues; but it also ranks fourth among brands which have made most impact!

Read the full details here:

News: M&S tops MW/YouGov green issues marketers’ poll - Marketing Week

If you’ve watched any TV in the last few weeks, you cannot have failed to see the Persil “Small & Mighty” ad, but just in case, here’s another chance to view it on YouTube.

It’s a great ad, and gets its message across very effectively, but… the question is: is this greenwashing, or a genuine move on the part of Unilever to display their “green” credentials? I’m sure that you’ll have you own opinion on that, but now there’s a website that offers the opportunity for anyone to make their opinion known on this, or indeed any other ad, they feel is “greenwashing”. The site is the Greenwashing Index - here’s an extract from their site:

Welcome to the Greenwashing Index — home of the world’s first online interactive forum that allows consumers to evaluate real advertisements making environmental claims. “Going green” has become mainstream for businesses large and small — and that’s a good thing. What’s not so great is when businesses make environmental marketing claims that can be misleading. The intent of this Web site is to:

1. Help consumers become more savvy about evaluating environmental marketing claims of advertisers;
2. Hold businesses accountable to their environmental marketing claims; and
3. Stimulate the market and demand for sustainable business practices that truly reduce the impact on the environment.

Another example of how the web is enabling customers to put the pressure on us, as marketers, to get our stories straight!

Here at Marketing Ability we are getting more and involved in the role that marketing can play in companies’ efforts to improve their environmental credentials, and to successfully communicate about what they are doing. Over the next few weeks we will do some further research and consultation as we develop new training programmes.

I’ve been reading a lot about environmental issues lately, naturally with a focus on marketing aspects. One thing that is becoming clear is the tremendous bottom-up pressure that consumers are putting on organisations to improve environmental performance. If any company still thinks that customers don’t care about this ‘green stuff’ look at the stats. Like the fact that UK turnover in ethical food in 1999 was just over £1billion: in 2005 it was over £5billion and rising. Or that well over 90% of people in the UK recycle in one way or another.

Green is already mainstream. Sure, in some sectors it’s more of an issue among consumers than in others, but it’s not something that any serious company can ignore.

Marketing and the environment is a complex subject. That’s why the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Peterborough Group is running a seminar on the subject next week. (Details are here.) It’s also why that seminar alone will probably just scratch the surface of the green marketing agenda. But despite the complexities (that we will no doubt look at in future blog posts), this green stuff is here to stay.

The pressing need to take action to save this beautiful, fragile planet should be enough to make us all change the way our companies do things. But if that wasn’t enough, the need to respond to customer demands for new behaviours from us should make every organisation agree and work towards meaningful environmental targets. 

So how was it for you?… the earthquake on Tuesday night, I mean!

I’ve been interested to see a couple of businesses use the ‘quake to give an angle to their PR messages! First of all, a Northampton based PR company was quick off the mark on Wednesday morning with this piece about how their clients could link the earthquake to their industries in order to generate new coverage. Then, later in the day it was followed by a press release from an e-commerce software provider doing just that with the headline “It would take more than an earthquake to shake this eCommerce Software“!

It just got me thinking - are there news items that your business can use to emphasise benefits of your product or service? The downside to this, of course, is that you’ve got to be quick off the mark as news stories don’t last long these days - as my colleague Richard Groom has just commented on in his latest newsletter that he publishes for his other business, Peterborough Copywriting Bureau. That newsletter, entitled Marketing Booster, is not available online, but you can subscribe here (worth doing, imho!)

In another example of the pressure that consumers can exert on marketers, take a look at the “International Bad Product Awards 2007″:

Consumers International - Global consumer movement announces winners of International Bad Products Awards

Consumers International is a global consumer group - it compiled submissions from consumer organizations around the world, and came up with its list of the worst products taking into account the size of the company, the scale of sales and marketing, the impact on consumers, and the potential for change by the corporation.

Here’s something I spotted a few days ago - I wonder if anyone else shares my thoughts.The item in question in a magazine advert for a satellite navigation system. The ad’s main focus is that the sat nav tells you when you are approaching a speed camera. The thing that bugged me is the reason they give for providing that information: “It will alert you when you are approaching mobile or fixed cameras, helping you keep within the speed limit, avoid accident blackspots, and ensure you arrive safely at your destination.”I just don’t get the ‘helping you keep within the speed limit’ bit. Drivers don’t need help to do that: they just have to look at the road signs.I think what they really mean is ‘this device will help you drive as fast as you like but just slow down when there’s a camera near’. But obviously they can’t say that, so they have (in my opinion) wrapped it up in a piece of spin that even the slickest politician would be proud of.Maybe this proves the point that ethics is in the eye of the beholder: in other words, for this company’s customers there’s nothing wrong in breaking the speed limit as long as you don’t get caught. Maybe also the product is doing a great job of meeting customers’ needs.

Welcome to the new blog from Marketing Ability (incorporating Peterborough College of Marketing), the UK-based marketing training company. Our intention with the blog is simple: to share with our customers, ex-students and others our thoughts on just about anything marketing-related, including latest trends, changing legislation and examples of the good, the bad and the ugly from the marketing world. We also hope it will provide a useful forum in which marketers can add their thoughts, or even raise issues and questions that they want some input on.