Success in 2014 – which includes developing the plans & resources required to execute – means simultaneously assessing the impact of current-year efforts while precisely projecting what you’ll need across the organization to accelerate success in the New Year.
We highly recommend that marketing organizations take advantage of time in late Q3 and early Q4 to get ahead of the 2014 budgeting and planning cycles – by both reviewing & improving the efficacy of current efforts, plus successfully planning, budgeting for and hitting the ground running on greater objectives next year.
Think of it as a 2014 Readiness Review: part real-time postmortem on the year to-date, plus a functional review of what’s needed to hit 2014?s objectives.
To do this, dedicate time with your managers and key marketing contributors and dig into the following:
Process
What systems are in place to support & automate execution?
Which new processes can be introduced to improve efficiency, consistency and results with minimal cost?
People
Which roles are required to execute on the strategy & objectives moving forward?
What skill sets do existing staff need to increase success in the coming year?
Database Health
How efficient is the current prospect database?
Where can it be improved – depth and breadth – and how can that be most efficiently accomplished?
Technology
What is the optimal software stack for your marketing organization?
Which specific tools, applications and integrations are required both now and over the next several quarters?
Sales & Marketing Collaboration
What processes, rhythms and other collaborations need to be in place to improve lead conversion and sales success?
What specific strategies and tactics can be adopted to improve real-time results?
Content, Social & Search Strategy
What is the optimal mix and collaboration between content, social and search specific to your customer and market opportunity?
What resources, tools and processes can be introduced to increase leverage and results from these focus areas?
We’ve developed a more detailed set of tools to collect, evaluate and triage if your organization is ready to conduct a Readiness Review for 2014.
If you’re interested in seeing more of that detail – including templates for reporting findings to your executive team and blueprints for quickly translating findings into both quick-wins that can still impact 2013 as well as Q4 action items to hit the ground running on January 2nd – let us know.
