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As one pragmatic author states, "when the going gets rough and business deteriorates, do not blame the economy, just fix your company." It is in this attempt to fix the company that Marketing can play a very important role in formulating a good business building program in hard and turbulent times.

Marketing is the process of communicating and promoting to prospects, customers, and stakeholders the features, benefits, and advantages of the company's products and services in order that patronage, loyalty, and advocacy can be developed. It is a strategic discipline that aims to induce trials, influence repeat purchase, and stimulate increased consumption for such products and services so that the company can create a sustainable stream of revenues to address its long-term business objectives. Marketing, therefore, is a balancing act that reconciles competing interests - that of the customers in getting greater value for their money and that of the business owners in getting the desired returns for their investments.

What specific Marketing measures then can be undertaken to increase business without going against the sensitive nature of Marketing? The following are time-proven tips in using Marketing as a central mechanism for business improvement:

A. Segment first your business before you make a marketing move.

Before considering any specific marketing action, the first thing you must do is to determine where your present business comes from. It is a critical activity where you have to analyze your revenue inflow by market sector, by product line, by industry, by area, by age group, by gender, or by any other similar means of drilling down the comparative strengths of your product across different market niches. In common marketing parlance, this is called segmentation, an exercise that gives you a clear idea on the product-market scope of your business.

One outstanding benefit of segmentation is that it highlights what customer group/s bring in the biggest revenue contribution to your company. As a guide in the analysis, you can revisit the Pareto Principle, which provides that 80% of the business is usually generated by 20% of the customer base. And the moment you know which 20% deliver 80% of your revenues, you can pour in your best marketing resources to the 20% to retain their patronage and loyalty. A notch deeper, you can even breakdown the 20% in a manner that tells you what the total revenue value of one customer group is as compared to other customer groups

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