Does Your Marketing Team Have the Right Stuff?

Posted on June 13, 2013 Updated on June 14, 2013

The 
Right 
Stuff,
 a
 1979 
book 
by 
Tom
 Wolfe, 
chronicled 
the 
sequence
 of 
events 
bridging 
the 
breaking 
of
 the
 sound
barrier 
and 
the 
Mercury 
space
 expeditions.
 The 
book 
(and 
subsequent
 movie)
 explored
 why
 the 
Mercury 
astronauts
 accepted 
the
 danger
 of
 space
flight,
 as 
well
 as 
the 
mental
 and 
physical 
skills
 required 
of 
them 
to 
do 
their 
job—in 
other 
words,
 the 
”right 
stuff.”

Recent 
studies 
suggest
 the 
need 
for 
many 
marketing 
professionals to
 re‐skill
 and 
re-tool.
 Only 
about 
5
 percent 
of 
marketers 
surveyed 
in 
a 
recent 
CMO 
Council 
study 
are 
highly
 satisfied 
with
 their 
levels 
of
 accountability, 
operational
 visibility,
 and 
marketing 
output. 
Most 
see 
plenty
 of 
room 
for 
improvement.

So what skills
 and 
tools
 are 
needed for 
your 
organization 
to 
have 
the 
right stuff?

Regardless
 of 
company 
size 
and 
industry, marketing 
teams 
(whether
 a 
team
 of
 one
 or 
more) 
are under 
increased
 pressure 
to
 drive 
top‐line
 growth 
and
 profitable 
revenue. 
For 
many
 organizations
 this
 means 
acquiring new
 skills 
related
 to 
marketing
 performance 
measurement
 and 
management,
 analytics, 
benchmarking,
 and
 customer
 engagement. 
 Let’s review 
these 
four 
specific
 skills
 every
 marketer
 should 
have 
under 
their 
belt:

• 
Metrics
 and 
performance 
target‐setting. With
 greater
 demand
 for
 marketing 
to 
be 
more
 accountable,
 solid 
metrics, 
performance 
target‐setting,
 measurement,
 and 
reporting skills  
are
 crucial.
 Participants 
in 
numerous
 studies 
comment
 on 
the 
importance 
of
 being 
able 
to 
set
 measurable 
goals
 and 
track 
results. 
These
 skills
 will 
be 
in 
vogue 
for 
a 
long 
time 
to
 come.

•
 Analytics.
This 
is 
the 
ability 
to 
derive 
insights 
from 
data. 
If
 growing 
valuable 
customer relationships
 and 
being
 able 
to 
forecast
 sales 
from 
future
 marketing
 activities 
are 
important,
 then 
analytics 
ought 
to 
be 
on 
the 
top
 of 
your 
skills‐to‐acquired 
list.

•
 Benchmarking.
This 
is 
the 
process
 of
 comparing 
what
 your
 company 
does 
to
 another 
that
 is 
widely 
considered
 to 
be
 an 
industry 
standard 
or 
best 
practice. 
The aforementioned
 CMO 
Council
 study 
indicated
 58
 percent 
of 
respondents 
have 
nominal 
or no 
benchmarking 
capabilities. 
If 
you 
don’t 
know 
what
 the
 standard 
is,
 how 
will 
you 
know 
what
 to 
strive 
for 
when 
it 
comes 
to
 such 
things 
as
 win/loss 
ratios, marketing 
key performance 
indicators,
share
 of 
preference,
 product
 adoption 
rates, and 
so
 on?
 Benchmarks
 are 
essential 
to
 any organization 
that
 believes 
continuous 
improvement
 is
 critical 
to 
the 
pursuit 
of excellence.

•
 Customer 
experience 
management. 
If 
business 
exists 
to 
produce 
and
 serve 
a
 customer,
 and 
marketing’s 
job 
is 
to 
create,
 communicate, and
 deliver 
value 
to 
customers, 
then
 marketing 
is
 your
 organization’s 
ultimate 
steward 
of
 the 
customer
 experience.
 Marketers 
need 
to 
be
 sure 
they 
have 
the
 skills 
necessary 
to 
improve 
customer
 engagement
 and
 touch-
point 
effectiveness. 
They
 also 
must respond 
to 
changes in 
the 
buying
 cycle
 and
 conduct
 voice‐of‐customer 
research in
 order 
to 
retain
 customers, 
create 
loyalty,
 and 
transform 
customers 
into
 advocates 
for the
 company.

Marketing 
operations 
refers 
to 
infrastructure — that 
is,
 the 
tools, 
systems, 
and
 processes in 
place 
to 
facilitate 
customer‐centricity.
 Forty‐four
 percent
 of
 the
 respondents in the CMO 
Council
 study 
are looking 
for 
way 
to 
lower
 costs 
and 
improve 
go‐to‐market 
efficiencies. 
For
 many 
organizations,
 achieving these 
operational
 efficiencies 
requires 
infrastructure changes 
and 
improvements.

With 
limited 
resources, 
where 
can
 you 
get the 
best
 bang
 for 
your
 buck?
 Here
 are 
four
 areas
 for 
investment 
consideration:

1. Operational
 process 
alignment.
 When 
was 
the 
last 
time
 you 
mapped 
your 
operational 
processes 
and 
verified 
marketing 
alignment
 with 
the
 sales,
 product,
 service,
 and
 other 
parts
 of
 the
 business?
 All 
of
 us 
get 
into 
routines 
and 
habits.
 Reviewing 
processes 
and
 updating 
them 
may 
be 
time consuming, 
but 
if
 you 
are 
looking 
for
 ways 
to
 reduce 
inefficiencies 
internally, 
this 
is a
 necessary step.

Many
 years 
ago,
 when 
I
 was 
in 
the
 semiconductor 
industry,
 we
 needed 
to 
find
 a 
way 
to 
reduce 
the 
time 
from 
order 
to 
delivery
 of
 product.
 It
 was 
just 
taking 
too 
long 
to 
get
 product 
to 
customers,
and
 we
 didn’t
 know 
why.
 When 
we calculated 
the 
time 
it 
took 
for
 the 
individual
 steps 
of
 order 
placement, 
manufacturing,
 testing ,
assembly, 
and
 shipping, 
the 
time 
didn’t
 add 
up 
to 
what 
it
 actually 
took.

So
 we 
mapped
 the 
process, 
counting 
the 
time 
product
 was 
”in‐transit,”
 whether 
physically 
or 
in
 some
 other 
way.
 Lo
 and 
behold, 
the 
in‐transit
 time
 was 
off
 the 
charts.
 The
 mapping 
process 
enabled 
us 
to 
identify 
the 
inefficiencies,
 label the white spaces,
and 
put 
in 
new
 processes 
to 
reduce
 and
 even 
eliminate 
them.

2. 
Market/Business 
intelligence. 
There 
is 
an 
art
 and
 science 
to 
using 
external 
information 
for 
driving 
business 
strategy. 
Business 
intelligence 
applications 
enable 
the
 collection,
 integration,
 analysis, 
and
 presentation
 of
 competitive,
 channel, 
product,
 and 
customer 
information 
to 
derive 
trends 
and 
insights.
 The 
value
 of
 having
 such 
a 
tool 
is 
that, 
when 
used 
properly, it
 enables 
you 
to 
begin 
conducting
 scenario 
analyses
 and
 anticipating 
the
 future.
 With 
the 
insights
 derived
 from 
business 
intelligence,
 there 
is 
the
 potential 
to 
anticipate 
the 
development 
of
 new
 markets, technological
 turning 
points,
 and 
how 
the 
competitor 
will react.

3. 
CRM. 
If 
the 
marketing
 organization 
is 
responsible 
for 
the 
relationship 
between 
the
company 
and
 the 
customer,
 then 
it
 stands 
to 
reason 
the 
organization
 needs 
tools 
to 
facilitate 
this 
relationship.
 As 
you 
know, 
there 
are 
a
 range
 of
 CRM 
tools
 out
 there,
 so 
selecting
 the 
right
 one
 can 
be 
a
 daunting 
task.
 Even
 so,
 in 
today’s 
environment
 a
 company
 can’t
 afford
 to 
operate
 without 
a
 formal
 approach
 to
 customer
 relationship 
management.
 Of
 course,
 once
 you 
have 
the 
tool
, the
 next
 biggest
 hurdle 
is 
using 
it.

4.
 Performance 
management.
 The 
ability 
to 
use 
analytics, 
reporting, 
and
 dashboards 
to 
assess
 marketing’s
 effectiveness, efficiency, 
financial
 contribution,
 and
 progress 
toward
 achieving 
pre-determined
 goals 
is 
performance 
management. 
In 
the 
end, 
marketing
 must
 demonstrate 
its
 value, 
which 
lies 
in
 how much you are “moving 
the 
needle.” This 
necessitates 
reporting
 on
 performance, impact, 
and
 ROI from
 the
 program 
level 
up.

Progress 
doesn’t
 come 
without
 missteps,
 misfires,
 and failures.
 Winners 
look 
for
 ways to overcome
 challenges
 and
 continuously 
improve.
 They
 seek
 outside 
help,
 new 
ideas,
 and new 
skills.
 While
 attending 
a
 Webinar,
 reading 
a 
book, 
or
 going 
to
 a
 conference 
helps, consider 
looking
 for
 ways 
that
 will
 enable 
the 
whole 
team 
to 
be 
on 
the 
same 
page
 at the
 same
 time. 
There are 
plenty 
of 
on-site
 and 
online 
programs
 offered 
by 
professional
 organizations 
and 
institutions, as 
well
 as
 by 
firms 
specializing 
in these 
areas.

In 
Wolfe’s 
story, 
the 
national 
heroes 
of 
the 
Mercury 
space 
program 
were 
not
 necessarily 
the 
truest 
and
 best. 
What 
they
 possessed
 was 
the 
right
 stuff, the
 skill
 and 
courage 
to 
”push 
the
 outside 
of
 the
 envelope.”
 Does 
your
 marketing 
team
 have 
the 
right 
stuff?