Outside the box on marketing

Narelle Finch is not the first woman to sit on the board of the Western Australian Cricket Association, but she has achieved an extraordinary amount not only as a female in sport, but also as one who acknowledges she knows little about the games she works with.

These days, the fINCH consultancy principal spends time helping business with marketing, strategy and sponsorship, making the most of a strong sports pedigree.

Unlike many of the women in the communications side of the corporate ledger, Ms Finch pursued marketing as a major at university before starting at the then state-owned R&I Bank, managing spornsorships.

From there she worked at the WACA and Cricket Australia in glamorous marketing roles before returning to Perth to take on the commercial operations at the Fremantle Dockers.

It is there Ms Finch claims real success, turning an emaciated merchandise business into a $1-million-a-year operation and a driver for the club’s bottom line.

She believes consumers are much more powerful than they were before, which is having a dramatic effect on business.

“If you understand one-to-one marketing and building healthy relationships with your customers, you can be anywhere around the world,” Ms Finch said.

The problem she sees is that male dominated management teams and boards are unable to view the world as a big part of their customer base, with more than 70 per cent of purchasing decisions made by women.

“They reach consensus very quickly, they reach the same point of view very quickly,” Ms Finch said.

“It’s time to wake up and recognise the value of women as customers.”