“While we all love saving that extra dollar, it’s not always about squeezing your agency for all they have.”
SANDRA SKAIRJEH, head of marketing for Micro Focus, on win-win ways to stay relevant.
My career in marketing began during the dot com era in the mid 90s in the US. Back then, marketing was all about brand-building, advertising and research. It was about having the most creative advertisements and messages. That was also when we had the chance to be pioneers of digital marketing, at its outset.
As marketers, we often debated issues as trivial as banner ad sizing and negotiated hard for prominent placements in the popular search engines of the time (most of which no longer exist). We lived, breathed and were measured by number of impressions and clicks.
Cut to: the early 2000s. I was still very much in technology marketing, but acutely aware that we were often working from an ivory tower. The relationship between sales and marketing was divergent. Marketing was mainly focused on delivering the most eye-catching, thought-provoking and clever creative concepts that would stand above the rest. How about contributing to revenue growth? That was left to sales teams to worry about.
Another decade later, and it is no surprise that, thanks to advancements in technology, the ivory tower had to be brought down. We B2B marketers found ourselves sitting on a hot seat right in front of sales and product teams with a challenge on our hands.
We were being asked to share the responsibility of the business by helping generate incremental revenue and drive growth, while simultaneously having to navigate our way through organisational alignment, tight budgets and a push for being more cost-effective.
This clearly opened the door to the culture of return on investment (ROI) metrics that we survive on now. Our success became dependent on being more data-driven, more customer-centric and collaborative. We were measured on how effectively we could cut through the silos created in the past.
Coming to the present day, the landscape has certainly transformed and, to say the least, presented us with unique challenges.
Customers today want instant gratification and relevant content. Social media interaction, video and graphical content, big-data analytics, audience targeting, automated marketing and more have changed the way we reach our customers, measure our performance and add value to our businesses. So how do we continue to keep marketing relevant? Having had the opportunity to work at some of the world’s most renowned brands, I’ve learnt several lessons to help my teams and myself stay on top. And knowledge is well-earned only when you share it. So here are my top 10 tried and tested methodologies I recommend every field marketer to implement:
01 KNOW YOUR KPIS, AND KNOW THEM WELL
Today’s field marketer is attuned to the fact that for every dollar spent, a certain return on marketing investment must be delivered. This usually takes the form of number and value of leads, and the acceleration of opportunities through the sales funnel. Marketers are well educated on the PERR (plan, evaluate, report, revise) cycle. We know that a marketing plan is efficient if data is monitored and reported on consistently. However, analysis of data doesn’t just hold true for monitoring ROI from marketing campaigns. The analysis of the full sales pipeline data, including unqualified and qualified opportunities and their advancement through the funnel, is as vital. You can therefore identify trends and gaps in the business that need focus, especially when needing to identify where your stretched marketing resources need to be deployed for maximum effect. So, get hands-on and dig deeper into the sales pipeline in order to build a plan that is realistic and designed for optimal performance.
02 WE’RE NOT JUST ABOUT GIVEAWAYS
The role and mission of today’s marketer in the workplace is broadening. Marketers of today represent the voice of the customer within the business. There is a seismic shift in how customers are researching and engaging with products and it has created the opportunity for marketing to have a seat at the business table.
Now, this seat isn’t a given. It’s going to take work in proving and positioning yourself as not just the execution person, but as a true consultant to the business. Ensure you are on every sales pipeline meeting and understand the four-quarter rolling pipeline well. Keep abreast of all that is happening in the industry by liaising with your media agencies and reviewing content on online syndicates, attend conferences and have open discussions with the sales consultants.
03 STORYTELLING ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT THE FAIRY TALE
Content is definitely king, and this is where storytelling comes in. Storytelling in marketing is defined as content intended to create relationships and softly encourage a customer to break down their barriers and accept a point of view or deliver an emotion. Today, it is the most influential way in which marketers can connect with, teach, influence or inspire an audience. However, be authentic and true when telling your story. Our customers aren’t looking for the fairy tale; they want the facts delivered with simplicity.
04 THERE’S MORE THAN ONE INGREDIENT IN THIS RECIPE
A strong go-to-market strategy is an integrated strategy. A standalone digital campaign, event, promotion or PR initiative will not resonate long enough to amplify the message or drive loyalty or preference. However, when using a coordinated approach involving all the marketing arsenal to hand, we create an always-on engagement. To quote the US’s Association of National Advertisers, “Integrated marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers to interact with the brand/ enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication, such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and social media through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centred on the customer.”
Innovations in digital media, platforms and technology are shaping marketing and we are seeing a melding of traditional with new-age media. Granted it’s tricky and expensive to engage in many marketing vehicles for a single campaign, but the best practice here would be to consider your customer’s journey. Where do they go to obtain their content or socialise online? Who and what influences them and their purchase decisions? What industry events do they regularly attend? How do you reach them in the most efficient manner? Understanding all this will define your best integrated go-to-market strategy.
05 IT’S NEVER A ONE-SIZEFITS-ALL.
Fashion your communications to speak to the audience you are targeting. In most cases you will have many different audiences depending on the objective you are trying to achieve. Don’t paint them all with the same brush! According to Gartner, eventtriggered and real-time marketing will have the biggest impact on marketing activities over the next five years, as is apparent in the massive investments made in AI marketing, multitouch attribution (MTA), conversational marketing tools and customer modelling. Personalisation is becoming key to the marketers of today in order to deliver a relevant customer experience. As new-age marketers in the field we must be cognisant of the role that predictive analytics, automation and other personalisation technologies will play in the future of communications.
Localisation is also significant. I often hear the argument in the field that “we have to” use corporate messaging and imagery delivered and produced by our worldwide teams in order to be consistent with brand image and positioning (and keep costs down). While this is true, I have never encountered a CMO who would press the case to not adapt and localise for local cultures and sensitivities. You must strike that fine balance and explore what that balance could be within your organisation.
06 DON’T SQUEEZE YOURSELF OUT OF SUCCESS
I sincerely believe that one of the keys to success for every great marketer is to sustain healthy agency-supplier relationships. Our views may sometimes get skewed to what is happening inside our organisation and our past experiences. Our agency, however, is on the outside and dealing with a variety of clients and new encounters. I have been surprised many times when my agency has opened my mind to innovative ways of going to market and thus encouraged me to gain expertise in areas I hadn’t even realised I had a penchant for. All this can be yours if you maintain a relationship that has mutual respect, trust and open communication – just like any other relationship. Remember our reputation follows us wherever we go, and many times I have seen companies that hire in top positions based on good connections with media, agencies and suppliers.
Additionally, I have to say this: Allow your agencies to remain profitable and stay in business, please. While we all love saving that extra dollar and doing a whole lot more with a whole lot less, it’s not always about squeezing your agency for all they have. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t negotiate for a better deal. However, allow it to be a mutual win-win so your agency also feels the appreciation.
07 STEALTHY IS HEALTHY
Every field marketing manager must keep an eye on what their competition is up to and use the information to their own competitive advantage. It’s not essentially because what the competition is doing is better; it’s just thought-provoking to check positioning that may be different or even like your own. There are some very simple strategies to apply here and Google and social media sites can be your best buddies. So, go ahead and sign up for their newsletters, follow their social handles, visit their stands at the next industry tradeshow and review what the analysts have to say about them. You will be surprised how much you will learn about what you could – but more importantly should not – do.
08 PROTECT YOUR CUSTOMERS’ DATA OR FACE THE MUSIC
You are the custodians of your customers’ data. Hence ensure you are up to speed on data privacy and legislation. There have been many mistakes made and numerous lessons learned from top firms around the world who got too creative in this regard, and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) have been enacted to implement privacy policies, along with huge fines for infractions. Thus, if requesting and collecting personal data (such as surveys or event feedback forms), be transparent about why you want it and how you will use it – especially data processing and third-party involvement. Disclose your data usage policies clearly and don’t bury them in small print or legalese. Finally, don’t ask for anything more than what you really require. Most companies today have best practice sharing and training in data privacy and compliancy that abides with local and worldwide legislations. Ensure you are in the know and abide by the strategies set forth at your organisation.
09 HEED THE VOICE OF YOUR CUSTOMER.
Most companies today make the claim of being customer- centric, and it is a statement used quite frequently in any field marketing manager’s campaign. However, at the crux of being customercentric is to listen to the voice of our customers.
It’s not just the research and development or sales teams that can benefit from the voice of the customer, but marketing too. Marketers can create enhanced campaigns that showcase the value propositions that customers care about. A customer who has invested in your solutions will be surprisingly open to sharing their points of view and feelings, because at the end of the day they really do want to see your company succeed.
Through setting up a local customer advisory board, or devising an online or telemarketing survey, your customers can provide insights into trends, purchasing habits and preferences that will enable you to create successful strategies based on fact versus intuition.
10 IT’S A CONSTANT EVOLUTION
There is nothing more melancholy than a marketer who is stuck in the past.
The world as we know it, thanks to technical advancements and digital transformation, is evolving at a rapid pace and we need to evolve along with it.
The requirement to be consistently creative whilst ensuring relevancy, cost efficiency and ROI is a fine balancing act.
What worked last quarter (let alone last fiscal) might not necessarily work the next time. As a marketer in this digital age, ensure you invest in your self-training and don’t leave it to your company to do so.
Take the initiative in keeping apprised of what’s happening in the industry by researching the latest trends, and by listening to, learning from and networking with your peers, suppliers, partners and competitors in the industry.
Then take what you have learned and plan, experiment, measure, try… and try again.
‘‘ALLOW YOUR AGENCIES TO REMAIN PROFITABLE AND STAY IN BUSINESS, PLEASE. WHILE WE ALL LOVE SAVING THAT EXTRA DOLLAR AND DOING A WHOLE LOT MORE WITH A WHOLE LOT LESS, IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT SQUEEZING YOUR AGENCY FOR ALL THEY HAVE.”