The need for transformational change is the reason they brought you into the organization. The CEO realized it was time to reinvent the Marketing organization. Whether it’s a newly hired CMO or the annual planning process, this is the time when transformational change is mapped out.
The key to marketing transformation is creating a measurable, customer-centric, market-driven organization.
Are you contributing 30% of the revenue via marketing driven campaigns? Are you able to measure marketing performance based on return on marketing spend?
Martyn Etherington, CMO at Mitel shared some of his best practices around marketing transformational change here.
Sign up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: “How to Make Your Number in 2014: A Sales Strategy You Can Execute.” Participate and learn what top companies are doing to make the number in 2014.
Background
Martyn Etherington is responsible for all aspects of Mitel’s corporate marketing strategy and programs globally. He has over 25 years’ experience with multinational technology companies. He has a proven track record of global brand building and revenue growth. Martyn is a board member for the Chief Marketing Officer Council. He was recognized in B2B Magazine & the Wall St Journal as one of the top 25 digital marketers.
Martyn recently shared 10 best practices for transformational change in marketing organizations. Here are five.
5 Key Areas:
- What game are we playing? – define our ideal customer profile (ICP) and the potential by territory. Perform an account segmentation analysis based on proximity to the ICP. Leverage customer interviews and win/loss analysis to build personas and buyer process maps. Without personas and buyer process maps you’re flying blind.
- Structure – define clear roles and responsibilities and the ideal marketing organizational structure. The pace of change in the market is driving the demand for new skills. The most common problem with marketing execution is job/role corruption. The ability to clearly define roles allows for better alignment with sales and shared metrics (leading & lagging).
- Hire slow, fire fast – success is measured as 50% talent and 50% performance conditions. The cost of mis-hire is 6-8X the base compensation. Define the required competencies to be successful for each role. Create an external and internal benchmark for each competency. Transformation starts with a bottom’s up review. Determine whether you have the right players. Remove and replace the “C” players quickly.
- Doing good vs. looking good – marketing transformation is about being agile in your approach. The pure waterfall model to execution is the fastest way to being replaced. Defining team success, promoting and rewarding for that success brings the group together. Without collaboration with sales, lead generation campaigns will fail. Solving for the “last mile,” getting the team and sales buy in creates team success.
- Facts and data always – you’ve heard it a hundred times, if you’re not measuring it you’re not managing it. Determining both the leading and lagging indicators for success is a starting point. It takes discipline to stay focused on measuring KPIs. Creating the action plans from KPI analysis is the foundation for continuous improvement.
Compare your best practices with Martyn’s. Use the Comments section below to share what you discovered. Here are comments from Martyn about his top five:
1. What game are we playing?
We perform market assessments: both primary and secondary market research supplemented with the Voice of the Customer (VOC). We do research to understand market external drivers and actionable segmentation. We continuously strive to have a clear view of who our customers are (Personas). We have mapped out how our customers buy (Buyers journey / Buyer Process Maps).
2. Structure
We have structured and assigned marketing ownership to company initiatives. Our marketing plans to support key company initiatives. Sales and marketing metrics/KPIs are shared by senior leadership to each initiative. We ensure alignment and tight commercial/Go to Market integration. Marketing is rewarded by compensation plans tied to initiative objectives.
3. Hire slow, fire fast
Early on, we determine if we have the right players in the right positions. Are they trained, equipped and motivated? We make certain that everyone knows their role and can do their job (clear roles & responsibilities). We are careful not to compromise on hiring and we remove non-performers (fast).
4. Doing good vs. looking good
A key priority for us is to instill a culture of continuous improvement and learning (Learning Organization). We review and adjust in a more agile approach. Our recognition is focused on promoting and rewarding action orientation and delivery of results! Our teams celebrate success across both sales and marketing.
5. Facts and data always
We develop outcome-based lead calculators to plan outcomes. Our metrics include conversion ratio data and close rates to populate tracking models. If you do not have company benchmark data, start by utilizing industry standard conversion ratios. We constantly review and adjust, it’s a continuous and agile approach to execution.
The rest of Martyn’s Top 10 best practices are available. Simply sign up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: “How to Make Your Number in 2014: A Sales Strategy You Can Execute.” You’ll receive a copy of the “Top 10 CMO Transformational Best Practices“.
