When it comes to marketing, there are many terms that are used interchangeably or even understood differently depending on the industry, individual or company culture. Things like content, social media, digital or development all conjure up different interpretations depending on role, responsibility or education. Along these same lines, marketing strategy and tactics are often jumbled in application. Many people jump into action or start talking about tactics without considering the full plan and/or approach to marketing activities. This is especially true in organizations driven by sales or led by people who are strong activators.
The idea of slowing down in order to speed up can be challenging, but the pay-off is really what those high performers are looking for. Here are four ways to help shift your team from a Tactically-Driven to a Strategically-Minded Marketing and Communications machine.
1) Make a Plan.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many organizations don’t actually have a written marketing and communications strategy that aligns with the overarching company goals and Sales plan. Work together to ensure that your audiences, markets, messaging and tactics are clearly defined and timed. Let’s say that again – work together. Collaborate with a cross-section of teams – sales, marketing, development, operations, product, service, etc. to ensure that the plan includes different perspectives and stakeholders’ goals. Identify who your true audiences are and what is important to them. What are the metrics that define success? Are there any special opportunities like new products, events or mergers that should be taken into consideration?
2) Communicate. Communicate. And Communicate Again.
Once the plan is set, determine how you will roll it out to the entire organization. Yes, you are likely to get a few eyerolls when you attempt to talk marketing, so structure this in the context that it is; a pathway to help everyone succeed. Marketing creates opportunities. Opportunities to engage with new and current customers. Opportunities to showcase company culture and attract new employees. Opportunities to build connections to communities and partners.
Regardless of the reason you are marketing, there is usually a direct correlation between planned (or strategic) marketing activities (also known as tactics) and growth in the workplace. Don’t keep this a secret. Launch it. Celebrate it. Report on it. Remind people about it. Evangelize it, in a way that makes everyone proud (or at least aware) of the plan.
3) Measure. Evaluate. Pivot.
A critical part of a strategic-focused organization is establishing accountability habits. This includes setting recurring meetings to look at data and understand what’s working, what’s not and where you can (or should) make a change.
For example, if you deploy an email that generates 300 leads, but only close on one sale, you may consider that campaign unsuccessful. Digging in to understand what happened to the other 299 leads can provide valuable insights into what needs to be adjusted for a higher conversion rate. On the contrary, if the value of that sale exceeds the cost of the email deployment, then it could be a wildly successful tactic that should continue to be a part of your strategy.
As a rule of thumb, you should give a single tactic 90 days before making any significant changes or pivoting entirely. This gives you month-over-month data from which you can extrapolate trends, but it also tests internal responses and processes. It may be the customer journey execution and not the marketing tactic that needs addressed.
4) Ask to Understand.
Inevitably, even with the most well-thought out and communicated MARCOM strategy, there will still be special requests that come into the marketing team or the rogue, non brand-compliant social media campaign launched. This is an opportunity to ask what we call the WHAT and HOW questions:
– WHAT are you trying to accomplish? This is a good way of uncovering a need that your sales team may have that is not addressed in the overall strategy. It can also expose a disconnect between what is already happening and what sales is aware of that is happening within the marketing plan. Both allow for better communication channels – one external and one internal.
– HOW will this piece be applied? Understanding the use case for a particular asset may result in something even better. Working through … a presentation, one-sheeter, product sheet, email, insert the sales need here … collaboratively can often spark creativity or innovation that neither discipline may have achieved alone.
– HOW can I help you create a social media post that aligns with our style guide? Everything communicates, so it is important to vigilantly protect how the brand is represented regardless of by who and on what platform. Perhaps there is a template library that allows for autonomy without sacrificing brand integrity.
– Bonus: WHAT other tactics would you like to see in the future? HOW urgent is this need?
Developing, implementing and communicating a well-defined Marketing Strategy creates trust and signals to the entire organization that you take success seriously. It reduces demand on capacity through disconnected tactical activities; and allows for better collaboration and increased accountability by pointing back to the agreed direction for the organization.
Looking for more ways to enhance your team collaboration? Read our article on the Unique Roles of Marketing and Sales
