Demand marketers have their work cut out for them. With new initiatives and increasing goals at every turn, it can be challenging to know which areas of focus will have the most impact. The marketing teams making the biggest difference are often those at marketing tech companies – perhaps because these are the organizations driving the leading edge of marketing.
We searched for the best marketing advice from MarTech CMOs and executives and this is what we found.
Share Revenue Goals
It’s great when individuals on the team accomplish big things. But the best way to go further, faster is to ensure teams are working together. Sanjay Dholakia, CMO of Marketo, explains his tactics for fostering collaboration between demand marketing and sales. The demand marketing team is jointly responsible for driving pipeline as measured by a specific sales quota. This makes marketing accountable and keeps them working lock step with sales – making joint decisions on the best marketing engagement strategies to generate new opportunities.
Focus Relentlessly on Customer Experience
Team messaging app, Slack, is doing many things right when it comes to building a brand and driving customer growth. CMO Bill Macaitis shares some valuable advice on the importance of setting metrics beyond conversion rates and revenue goals. When marketers are targeting short-term wins, it can compromise integrity. If however, organizations aim for long-term metrics like lifetime customer value and building customer advocates, it incentivizes team to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Implement an Integrated Data Strategy
In order to successfully orchestrate experiences that will win the hearts and minds of customers, demand marketing organizations must have a solid data strategy in place. Mahau Ma, VP Marketing at Mulesoft explains how crucial it is to integrate marketing tech tools and ensure that all customer and prospect data flows seamlessly between systems.
On the surface, this can seem simple – when we’re looking at connecting core customer data systems (i.e. marketing automation and CRM). But when we consider the vast amount of data marketers are capturing from numerous apps, tools and software – demographic, firmographic, behavioral, intent, transactional, etc. – integrating systems becomes a little more complicated.
Create a Marketing Tech Blueprint
Mahau’s point is precisely why Integrate advocates so heavily for creating marketing tech blueprints. Forbes contributor, Kimberly Whitler, dove deep with CMO Scott Vaughan to understand the blueprinting process and how it can help marketing teams get more out of their data and marketing tech investments.
A blueprint is a simple and effective way for demand marketing orgs to visualize how all of their marketing tech connects and how data flows between those systems. More importantly, it can be used to answer several key questions that can help guide the organization’s overall marketing strategy:
- What tech and processes are being used to create new customers?
- How are those tools working together to give marketers the data they need to make smarter decisions?
- Which software is critical to the marketing stack?
- Where do tools overlap?
- Which technologies are integrated?
- Does the marketing team have a fully automated view of marketing performance?
Developing a marketing tech blueprint is one of the single most worthwhile exercises for demand marketing organizations to undergo – as long as it’s used to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Here’s a blueprint workbook that includes fillable tables and a customizable PPT template.
At Integrate, we work with some rock star demand marketers who are implementing these practices and driving innovation within their organizations. We believe these pros deserve recognition for their work. So we’ve recently introduced a new award in coordination with Heinz Marketing to recognize the Top 40 Demand Marketing Game Changers and shine a spotlight on the demand marketing pros who are doing stand out work.
If you know a #B2BGameChanger (or are one) who should be recognized , consider nominating them today.
