Actually, I will be in search of marketing effectiveness with a couple different regions. Heading this weekend to Switzerland, then mid-February to Japan and China. Looking to review regional strategies, make sure they're aligned with my global strategies and see what else can be done to improve effectiveness and streamline efficiencies and to make sure things are localized appropriately.
Keep you posted on the travels!
Guest blogger: Nicole Huston
Usually I am not the one to watch commercials, however, in the past month I have come across an awesome PR campaign, advertisement that blows my mind every time I see it. Shivers creep up my spine each time I run across this commercial, and I think to myself…”Self, this is fantastic PR and an awesome marketing strategy in an effort to change the value of their brand!”
If you are still in the dark of which I’m speaking of, it’s Dominos Pizza!
The company has released a series of commercials showing the truth of what people actually think of the pizza company and how Dominos Pizza has changed in an effort to win back lost customers. Changing the consumer perception is one of the hardest things to do, especially with the ease of communication and word of mouth these days. However, the company used this tactic to their advantage by using social media and commercials to alter brand perceptions.
In my high spirits for Dominos, a friend and I ordered one of their new recipe pizzas. We were completely disappointed with the whole event.
First, the employees were not supporting the “turnaround”, the deliverer actually admitted he hates Dominos Pizza and that the new recipe didn’t change much. So there is much needed brand training for all employees.
Second, they did not deliver on their promise of great cheese, actual sauce, and flavorful crust. What was seen in the commercial was not shown at this location by any means.
So, they had a great idea and campaign in place; however, the implementation was just not there. Dominos Pizza communicated the message effectively through the use of media today, the company even changed packaging, but they did not successfully implement the “Pizza Turnaround”.
See the documentary for yourself “Pizza Turnaround”
For those of you who DVR over the commercials and have not had a chance to see the commercial, watch it on YouTube. At the Door of Our Harshest Critics.
Here's some great information from a friend of mine, Mike Byers of The Byers Group. Marketers should take this to heart and truly look to bridge the gap with sales. Marketing needs to make sure their activities are trackable, measurable and actually help sales sell.
Making all those “Wishing you a Prosperous 2010!” sentiments come true
As we all settle into 2010, here’s a thought to improve your new year marketing investments. For good sport, throw this out at your next management meeting:
“What should be the 2010 Sales Goal for the Marketing Department?”
The reactions may vary from adamant protestations to showing pre-and-post brand awareness studies to dragging out stacks of spread sheets on web site “click throughs”. The reality is that, in this digital age, it is indeed possible to tie many marketing efforts directly to converted sales and, at least to some extent, shouldn’t the role of Marketing be to provide qualified leads for Sales?
Let’s take a modest approach to this last thought for 2010. Is it unrealistic to ask Marketing to have 50% of their efforts be measureable and tied to converted sales? Even if that goal is 25-30%, the benefits are significant in:
- At least moving toward a more Sales oriented/measurable mindset within Marketing (and the rest of the organization?)
- Having a common scorecard for collaborative success
- Having visibility to what efforts provided ROI and what didn’t (thus, providing data to better direct marketing investments for 2011)
If there is no openness to discuss this approach, it often points to deeper challenges including no “closed loop”, marketing campaign-through-sales processes in place, little to no CRM utilization by the sales force, no ability to measure marketing campaigns, etc. Not to worry, everyone has to start somewhere and “2010” has a nice ring to it as a milestone. To this effect, start the process by presenting the question below the next time Sales and Marketing are all together:
“What do you consider to be a “good lead”?
This is the first area where “bridging” needs to occur. Make certain that there is consensus from the discuss as to what a good lead looks like and that the definition is captured on paper. This exercise alone can help make great strides toward bringing the two, often discordant, groups together.
As detailed in the white paper “Why Marketing Throws Sales under the Bus (and how to avoid fatalities)”, by the marketing automation company, Silverpop, the challenges are fairly common and the detriment to go-to-market efforts evident:
“Much of the problem lies in marketing and sales having different definitions of what constitutes a lead. For example, marketing might consider a person who downloaded a white paper to be a lead, while sales labels that person merely a contact or information request. Generally, salespeople want to work prospects that are further along in the pipeline than merely showing interest in a topic. They prefer to jump in when prospects are at a point where they’re ready to make a buying decision. And they certainly don’t want to follow up on a supposedly “hot” lead only to be told, “Actually, I’m not looking to buy anytime soon, I was just checking out a Webinar.”
Frustration builds when lead generation becomes a numbers game. Marketing rushes to fill the pipeline at the top, with little concern for quality over quantity, believing sales can sort through the chaff. Marketing feels it’s fulfilled its responsibility of driving more leads sales’ way, not realizing that unqualified leads become a distracting nuisance to the salesperson.”
If you would like directions to the web site where Silverpop houses this white paper (it is very good) or another excellent article on the subject from our strategic partner, The Annuitas Group.
In any event, take the first step in 2010 toward accountability, visibility to your marketing investment and measurement of ROI.