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Market Developers, simply put, help companies enter new markets. The term "market" may refer to an industry (a "vertical") the company previously hadn’t sold to, a new type of product, or a new geographic region. You will sometimes see words like "Emerging" prefixed to the title of "Market Development Manager" to stress the focus on new products or markets.
Market Developers aren’t used every time a company enters any new market, but rather only when some dedicated marketing attention is needed. For example, Convio successfully sold software to every type ("segment") of nonprofit organization except one: hospital foundations. As this represented a large potential market for Convio, and because the strategies and tactics required to sell to hospital foundations were different from, say, selling to a humane society, it made sense to put a dedicated Market Developer (yours truly) on the hospital segment.
As another example, since its inception Lombardi’s software ran locally on personal computers. But in 2007, Lombardi decided to launch a new Web-based version of its software which customers would access over the Internet. As this represented an entirely new product line for Lombardi and necessitated different marketing strategies and tactics to succeed, they hired a Director of Market Development for this product line.
What They Do
What a Market Developer does depends on when he or she takes on the role. Market Developers can be brought in while a company is in the process of determining whether to enter a market, or which one. In this case, the individual would initially focus on researching and analyzing the market opportunity. Market Developers can also be brought in after some progress has already been made in tackling a market, in which case the Market Developer will be more focused on refining and executing a marketing plan instead of defining one from scratch.
Market Development is a blend of strategic and tactical work. On the strategic side are research, analysis and planning. On the tactical side are activities such as sales support and executing marketing campaigns. The types of work Market Developers may perform include:
Useful Skills
Market Development requires a broad range of skills, most of which are best obtained through several years of work experience, especially in interdisciplinary roles. These include:
Career Paths
Any road can lead you into market development. Most Market Developers fall into it unintentionally, often coming from backgrounds in another Marketing or Sales role, or from a background that is heavy in analysis, such as management consulting or finance.
Market Development is rarely an entry-level position. It’s usually not a good field to enter without at least five years of professional work experience, or fewer years but with some refined analytical or financial training. Many Market Developers hold MBAs.
In smaller- to mid-sized companies, Market Development staff typically report up to the Vice President of Marketing, either directly or through a Director of Market Development. Larger companies may have a dedicated VP of Market Development.
Market Development is an excellent springboard to advancement within a company, and to other careers. If a Market Developer does a particularly good job of developing a new market that grows large enough to justify dedicated management, many companies will tap the individual to run a new business unit focused on that market or, in a smaller company, make him or her the Segment Marketer for that segment. In some companies, Market Developers focus on one market only until it gains substantial traction and then move on to develop another market. Other Market Developers move into Sales roles to sell into the new market.
►See a sample job description for a Market Development position
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Market Development
Market Developers, simply put, help companies enter new markets. The term "market" may refer to an industry (a "vertical") the company previously hadn’t sold to, a new type of product, or a new geographic region. You will sometimes see words like "Emerging" prefixed to the title of "Market Development Manager" to stress the focus on new products or markets.
Market Developers aren’t used every time a company enters any new market, but rather only when some dedicated marketing attention is needed. For example, Convio successfully sold software to every type ("segment") of nonprofit organization except one: hospital foundations. As this represented a large potential market for Convio, and because the strategies and tactics required to sell to hospital foundations were different from, say, selling to a humane society, it made sense to put a dedicated Market Developer (yours truly) on the hospital segment.
As another example, since its inception Lombardi’s software ran locally on personal computers. But in 2007, Lombardi decided to launch a new Web-based version of its software which customers would access over the Internet. As this represented an entirely new product line for Lombardi and necessitated different marketing strategies and tactics to succeed, they hired a Director of Market Development for this product line.
What They Do
What a Market Developer does depends on when he or she takes on the role. Market Developers can be brought in while a company is in the process of determining whether to enter a market, or which one. In this case, the individual would initially focus on researching and analyzing the market opportunity. Market Developers can also be brought in after some progress has already been made in tackling a market, in which case the Market Developer will be more focused on refining and executing a marketing plan instead of defining one from scratch.
Market Development is a blend of strategic and tactical work. On the strategic side are research, analysis and planning. On the tactical side are activities such as sales support and executing marketing campaigns. The types of work Market Developers may perform include:
- Researching market opportunities. Which markets are desirable for the company to pursue? What characteristics of those markets are complementary to the company’s strategy and past success?
- Building business cases. Of the desirable markets, which ones could generate the most revenue for the company? Why is this market better than others the company could pursue? What resources (such as money, people, and time) are required to enter this market? Business cases that require significant investment might require approval by a company’s executive team or Board of Directors.
- Market segmentation. How can the market be categorized or sub-categorized (segmented)? Are there desirable niche markets within the broader market category? For example, "hospital foundations" could be segmented into children’s hospital foundations, cancer center foundations, and so on.
- Marketing plan development. With desirable markets and sub-segments identified, how should the company approach this market from a marketing perspective? To build awareness in a new market, should the company launch an advertising campaign, exhibit at trade shows, use direct mail or telemarketing to reach potential customers, or conduct free seminars or webinars, or employ other tactics? What should the high-level messages of these campaigns be? How will success be measured? What will the marketing campaigns cost?
- Product input. What product changes or new products, if any, are required to meet the unique needs of this market? Market Developers frequently work with Product Marketers and Product Managers to define new or enhanced functionality requirements.
- Sales support. Entering new markets usually requires that the Sales team be trained on how to sell to this market. New sales tools, new pricing models, and new marketing collateral might be required. Certain sales channel partners might need to tapped, as well.
- Tracking progress. Market Developers typically establish a "dashboard" of quantifiable metrics (sometimes called KSIs, or Key Success Indicators) to track the success of their efforts. These may include sales leads generated, number of new customers, revenue, marketing expenses, media coverage, end users, and many other metrics. Beyond defining and setting up systems to track these metrics, a critical facet of market development is continually monitoring these indicators, analyzing what’s causing changes in the metrics over time, adjusting marketing strategies to improve them, and altering forecasts accordingly. It’s also critical for a Market Developer to be able to use these metrics to justify continued investment in the market.
Useful Skills
Market Development requires a broad range of skills, most of which are best obtained through several years of work experience, especially in interdisciplinary roles. These include:
- Balance. As mentioned earlier, Market Development requires a blend of strategic thinking and tactical execution. You need to be good at both.
- Analytical skills. Market Developers need to be strong at analyzing data, trends and other information to determine the relative attractiveness of market opportunities, as well as predict potential obstacles to market success.
- Financial skills. Market Developers should have at least basic financial skills to be able to calculate projected revenues and costs for pursuing various market-entry strategies. You should be adept at using Microsoft Excel.
- Market knowledge. Having expert familiarity with the market you’ll be developing is always a plus but rarely mandatory. Much more important is the ability to learn about new markets quickly by asking the right questions, and focusing on the most relevant issues. In fact, in some cases, already having in-depth market knowledge may be detrimental because it can cloud objectivity.
- Familiarity with the company. To determine the viability of a particular company entering a new market, it helps to know a lot about the company and what has or hasn’t worked in the past. Markets that look attractive on paper may be completely wrong for the company’s Sales team to pursue, for the company’s culture, or for the company’s market reputation. Good Market Developers take these "fit" issues into account as best they can, but when defining which market to enter or how to do it, it helps to know enough about the company from experience to be able to make faster, better informed "reality check" decisions about such things. This is why many Market Developers start their careers in another function in the company and move into Market Development only when they’ve amassed a significant amount of knowledge and experience.
- Interpersonal skills. One hard part about market development is keeping executives in your company behind your efforts. Despite your best efforts, new markets may be painfully slow to develop, and as a Market Developer you may find yourself continually fighting for scarce resources to keep your marketing efforts funded. Being able to keep the executive team excited and committed to the market—and committed to supporting you, personally—is critical.
Career Paths
Any road can lead you into market development. Most Market Developers fall into it unintentionally, often coming from backgrounds in another Marketing or Sales role, or from a background that is heavy in analysis, such as management consulting or finance.
Market Development is rarely an entry-level position. It’s usually not a good field to enter without at least five years of professional work experience, or fewer years but with some refined analytical or financial training. Many Market Developers hold MBAs.
In smaller- to mid-sized companies, Market Development staff typically report up to the Vice President of Marketing, either directly or through a Director of Market Development. Larger companies may have a dedicated VP of Market Development.
Market Development is an excellent springboard to advancement within a company, and to other careers. If a Market Developer does a particularly good job of developing a new market that grows large enough to justify dedicated management, many companies will tap the individual to run a new business unit focused on that market or, in a smaller company, make him or her the Segment Marketer for that segment. In some companies, Market Developers focus on one market only until it gains substantial traction and then move on to develop another market. Other Market Developers move into Sales roles to sell into the new market.
►See a sample job description for a Market Development position