10 minute guides

Log on for these free resources created by the Chartered Institute of Marketing – the world’s largest international body for professional marketers.

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How to write an effective mission statement

This guide explains why a mission statement is important and describes how to develop one. It also includes examples and will help you develop a mission statement that communicates to your customers and motivates your employees. Log on to download

Marketing planning toolkit for small business

This guide provides marketing support, whatever your background or level of expertise, and includes a brief overview of marketing, answering some of the most commonly asked questions. Log on to download

How to analyse your business sales – 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule is a technique for analysing an organisation’s sales and profits. The analysis will help you make decisions about allocating resources to achieve the best available returns, and about how your business should grow. Log on to download

How to plan marketing communications

Marketing communications are the tools a company uses to deliver a range of promotional messages to its target markets. Ultimately, the objective is to achieve sales – hence, effective marketing communication is vital. Log on to download

Customer service programmes

Your organisation must deliver customer service if it is to achieve customer satisfaction. A business that delivers physical products may not see itself as being a service. However, their customers still measure the business on the service they experience both pre-sales and after-sales. Log on to download

How to get to grips with your competitors

Many businesses see competitive information gathering as a cost – however, the value gained usually far outweighs the cost. This guide includes informaion sources and questions to help you get to grip with your competitors. Log on to download

How to achieve an effective marketing mix

The marketing mix is the combination of tactics used when marketing products or services to a particular customer group. It is important because we must ensure we are marketing the right product, to the right person, at the right price, in the right place and at the right time. Log on to download

How to achieve an effective promotional mix

The promotional mix describes the tools used to communicate the benefits of a product or service to customers. It includes advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing and personal selling. Log on to download

How to grow through new and existing customers

This guide explains why grouping customers for your products and services can help grow your business. It provides a step by step process for finding out which are your best customers, how to profile and group them, and how to choose the best group for your a target list. Log on to download

How to define your Unique Selling Proposition

This guide explains what a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is and when to use it. It then takes you through identifying the features of your product or service, translating the features to benefits that the customer will recognise, and identifying which benefits you will use to develop your USP. Log on to download

What is marketing?

Marketing is ‘the management process responsible for identifying, anticiptating and satisfying customer requirements profitably’. This highlights the fact that the customer is at the heart of business, and companies ignore this at their peril. Log on to download

Marketing and the 7 Ps: A brief summary of marketing and how it works

How many Ps? If you’re wondering why there are now seven when there used to be only four, download this guide for a quick overview. Log on to download