Yes, we’re in the worst economy most of us have seen in our lifetimes. The hope of a new President has faded somewhat as the reality of the hole we are collectively in becomes more starkly apparent. It’s no surprise that many companies (and the marketing staff within them) have become frozen, afraid to act, waiting for the uncertainty to just go away.
Now is the best time to remember the old proverb, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” It’s how we deal with adversity that in the end defines us. The smart companies continue to market “in the trough.”
Okay, enough of the cheerleading. Let’s get a bit more practical.
In the past few years, companies have begun to figure out the importance of Marketing Operations as a means to run more strategic, accountable, profitable Marketing organizations. Smart companies realize that Marketing Ops done right is not a cost center, but a
Now more than ever, companies need to optimize their Marketing resources. But better efficiency alone is not enough.
- Its knowledge of the market, competitors and customer buying motivations to innovate, differentiate and create sustainable demand for its products and services
- Its ability to scale the marketing function through process, technology, best practices and smart resource allocation to get the most out of its people and be poised to seize future opportunities
- Its ability to learn from experience to maximize
decision-making ability and increase agility in a constantly changing global economy - Its development of increased competency in its people so new capabilities are either groomed in existing staff or acquired through future recruiting
- Its ability to mobilize support for new
enterprise-wide marketing initiatives that advance its strategic agenda - Its ability to sustain and grow marketing investment so it can stand out from the pack not just during the best of times but during a downturn
Think of Marketing Operations as the circulatory system for the Marketing function, which, in turn, might be considered the heart of your enterprise. If the blood flows freely through the veins and arteries, you have a healthy Marketing system and, by extension, a healthy company. Excellent MO promotes health not just in the Marketing function, but in Sales, Customer Experience, Engineering, R & D, Finance, you name it.
On the other hand, if the blood flow is stifled from high cholesterol or some other inhibitor, the overall system becomes sick over time. You may not notice the symptoms for years (or decades, if you’re lucky), but the illness is sure to come.
So stop holding back. Steel your resolve. It’s time to move from paralysis to action. Marketing Operations is your best bet to make sure that your Marketing function — and your enterprise — is healthy and fit for the long haul.
Gary
In a nutshell, the difference between the two company types is the role marketing plays, the motivation (and propensity) to invest in marketing and the level of complexity in the marketing organization.
Marketing for a younger company with a single product tends to focus on winning initial customers, then building a funnel of sales opportunities. Ideally, the company finds a ”beach-head ,” a homogeneous market it can serve with the existing solution “out of the box.”
Marketing investment in these companies is fairly straight forward. Without a certain level of marketing, Sales is forced to sell without any “air cover.” Unless the sales team can easily access its customers directly, the success of the company is directly tied to how well Marketing can decrease the cost of the selling process.
Thus much emphasis in these young,single-product companies is naturally placed on developing a well-differentiated position and messaging platform; obtaining enough brand awareness to compete (and be on the ”short list”) and enabling Sales with tools and opportunities. The marketing charter is fairly straight forward and the level of complexity is thus relatively manageable.
Larger,multi-product companies tend to have more complex marketing agenda. The resources devoted to marketing (people, budget, infrastructure, etc.) are much greater. The number of markets served (vertical, geographic) increases. These companies are more likely to sell through multiple channels (direct, reseller, online), requiring them to develop positioning, messaging, collateral and go-to-market strategies for each audience and product family. They tend to have many more marketing programs and a much more sophisticated lead generation and nurturing process in place (or development) in support of the channel and the direct sales force. As they enter new markets, become a public company, undertake new compliance initiatives, go through a merge or acquisition process, strive to become more a part of their local community and/or more “green,” this complexity and the associated investment in marketing becomes very hard to manage. Marketing operations strategies such as advanced analytics, process improvement, best practices, knowledge management, policies and procedures, cross-functional alignment, socialization, winning stakeholder buy-in , metrics and dashboards, and change management grow in importance.