Metrics, KPIs, ROI, is all the CEO/COO and CFO are concerned with, and rightly so, as they steward their business growth strategy and grapple with the largest discretionary spend that is Marketing Investment. It’s clear what R&D and product teams do – you can’t sell what you have not built. Sales is essential to sell that product, so while the expense accounts may sometimes get bloated, at the end of the day the revenues come from sales closing the deal.
“What does Marketing ‘Do’ since Sales is who really pops the question.”
Everybody knows marketing is important and a lot of time is spent in finding or hiring the right marketing leader. So after we hire why do we still struggle with this question every few months? For those that are reading this article, I hope to answer this once and for all.
In case you are wondering where I am going with the ring and the proposals :), it’s summer and wedding season and therein the inspiration for my analogy. So here we go:
“Every time Sales ‘Proposes’ Marketing ensures the answer is a resounding ‘Yes.'”
You can have the best solution in the world, but if nobody knows about it you may as well not have it! The right doors need to open and the path well laid out to conquer the kingdom so to speak.
In corporate terms that translates to..
- Positioning and Enablement – providing the words and the content to set you apart ensuring scalability, and ultimately profitability for competing in a global economy (Branding, Research, Design, Content, Training)
- Share of Voice and Awareness – opening the door and creating recognition (PR, Analyst, Social, Influencer, Event)
- Engagement, Behavior and Intent – targeting and focusing on the right prospect and getting the timing right to ensure highest rate of success (Personalization, Website, Database, Martech/Targeting)
- Value and Need – procuring and crafting the right offer to get share of mind (Campaign Design, Promotion, Research (competitor and external), Influencer)
- The Non-tangibles – creating the ambiance and the mood that fosters trust and builds relationship. For after all, at the end of the day we are ‘humans’ engaging with other ‘humans.’ (Event, Forums, Advisory Boards, Thought Leadership)
- Growing and Cementing the Bond – with changing needs and market conditions, every relationship needs to be fostered to grow and renew through the years (Customer Expansion, Renewals and Cross-Sell)
At a high level, that’s it! We get into channels and tactics, priorities and process after that. Marketing needs to stay agile, rapidly experiment and respond to ever changing market opportunities. To allow for that the organization should align to the following Top 3 Metrics.
- CAC or Sales Efficiency (payback). Factors to consider are the stage of your business, the size of customers you are targeting, your sales velocity and average contract values. There are several formulas for running these numbers.Walk the tightrope between turbo-charging growth vs. burning cash too fast.
- Growth targets aligned with your pipeline. Build out and measure to a pipeline model that accounts for opportunities required to deliver to growth targets factoring in churn.Break it down by direct and indirect channels and develop programs and investment to achieve growth goals.
- Translate to Conversion Rates and Sales Velocity. Finally, break it down to conversion rates at each stage of the funnel to measure to industry benchmarks and identify actionable levers.Sales Velocity and close rates factor in the effectiveness of branding and share of voice and thought leadership initiatives.
We couldn’t be living in more exciting times as we get to shape the Digital Transformation which is commonly hailed as The Fourth Industrial Revolution. It will take the visionary, the leader in each one of us to rip up existing playbooks and start developing a new rhetoric. So let’s toast to that and usher in a new era that focuses on building strong teams and growth drivers!
GrowthPath 