Getting Management Buy-In For Integrated Marketing & Communications
There are a lot of marketers out there that understand that integrated marketing and communications (IMC) is a preferred way to do business because it is an outside-in approach. If an organization isn’t integrated, what are the best approaches to getting management buy-in? Anna Barcelos and I wanted to share nine key ways to provide management with the value of IMC.
Sales-Oriented Vs. Market-Oriented – Which Are You?
It’s often been said that the mindset of “If we build it, they will come” is not viable for long term business. To understand why, let’s look at the difference between a sales-oriented and market-oriented organization.
Sales-oriented organizations have a heavy reliance on promotional tactics to sell whatever products/services the organization has selected to produce. Sales teams, not marketers lead the pack and have the burden of performance (i.e. revenue generation).
In the short-run, markets can be created with aggressive campaigns and sales work; however, the lifetime value of a customer is minimal. The organization mindset is focused on ‘the next big thing,’ hungry and aggressive sales teams, and sales beating up marketing for not dishing up qualified leads or customers ready to spend.
Market-oriented organizations identify what markets need/want first and tailor their operations to deliver products/services that meet those demands as efficiently as possible. Within a market-oriented organization, marketing takes the lead not sales.
Because the market-oriented company has its complete focus on the customer, the end result is often brand loyalty, sales, and strong customer lifetime values.
Getting Management Buy-In
If you are in a sales-oriented organization, how then can you get management to understand the benefits of customer-focused integrated marketing and communications? Here are five areas to focus on:
- Execute long-term customer acquisition programs across channels instead of short-term lead generation to feed the sales funnel. While the former may take a little longer, the end results produce longer term customers with much higher life-time values. Demonstrate this with metrics and show management. They are always interested in seeing results tied to revenue generation.
- Emphasize that a customer for life is a much more cost-effective model versus solely focusing on new customer acquisition.
- Communicate the benefits of how integrated marketing communications delivers a consistent message to both existing and prospective customers.
- Involve key players from “silos” within the organization in planning process. If you can’t beat them— join them. Realistically, sales-oriented organizations will always have silos due to individual department goals/quotas. If sales and marketing work together, both are vested in acquiring/retaining customers.
- Build incentives around existing and new business initiatives to not only motivate sales, but customer service and marketing as well.
You would think that a market-oriented organization would have a leg-up on getting management buy-in, but a lot of times there are still silos and separate budgets in place that affect true IMC. But by demonstrating the value of IMC, chances are you’ll have an easier time convincing management of its inherent benefits. Here are four ways to show value:
- Do an A/B test of an integrated campaign versus a non-integrated campaign (suggested by Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent) Testing is a risk-free, quick way to prove the value of IMC. Large companies shy away from radically changing their current marketing efforts. Testing gets them interested without any disruption in day to day. If tests delivers expected ROI, then scale.
- Leverage/collect behavioral data and analytics for follow up IMC campaigns with existing customers and build profiles on potential untapped new markets. It’s astonishing how companies have amazing databases that they are not exploiting as much as they could.
- Survey/talk to customers for the best insight on what works with them and what doesn’t. (“How can we be better?” “ Where do you want to find information?”) Management is always interested in seeing results of these efforts!
- Maintain communication across all departments. Market-oriented organizations are more customer-centric than sales-oriented organizations. Goals are aligned across the organization from top to bottom. Everyone plays a part in the customer experience. IMC works well within these organizations, but communication is key.
Whether an organization is sales- or market-focused, and the latter may be more beneficial, the reality is that unless upper management encourages a customer-centric culture, self-contained silos and status quo will continue to be the norm. The benefits of outside-in planning that IMC offers will bring you closer to the customer and social media has really helped put that into perspective. The voice of the customer is louder than ever, which is forcing traditional organizations to rethink their marketing communications strategies and encouraging customer-centric organizations to develop deeper relationships with their customers. Both take time, but small efforts across an entire organization will deliver what’s most important—a happy, loyal customer.
Share your expertise with us! Have you encouraged management to implement IMC? Have you broken down or bridged silos in your organization? What worked best? What didn’t work? What would you add here?
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Anna and Beth,
Thanks for the great post with really practical advice. Changing a company culture is extremely difficult. Here’s another simple tactic to get management buy-in for this type of cultural change: Ask to do a pilot program.
If you propose an engagement with a defined timeframe, a limited budget and minimal impact on current job responsibilities, it’s difficult for even the most resistant boss to say no.
Within this pilot, plan for measurable “quick wins” that you can promote to gain momentum for the effort. Do this in a way that is humble, non-threatening, and supports the supervisor’s over-arching organizational goals.
More often than not, if a pilot can build just a little steam, the deadline will be forgotten and the successes will be rolled into the fabric of the department.
I’ve found this to be about the only way a “grassroots” effort can have a transformational impact on a company cultural.
Thanks for the excellent post.
@markwschaefer
Great post Beth…It’s the “communication across all departments” that I’ve found critical to success in the IMC model. I tend to hold lunch n learns in past lives, to provide awareness. Then staff in other departments feel more in tune with the organization and any issues pop up and can be discussed.
.-= Giles (Webconomist)´s last blog ..On Authoring Our Future & Social Media =-.
Mark, I instantly like you! I am fairly new at my marketing communications company – a traditional print and mail shop evolving into digital analytic-driven integrated marketing. So you can imagine the existing culture and the challenges to educate, motivate and transform what has been very comfortable for many years into fresh, innovative thinking. Pilot programs are exactly what we are doing. Small wins, one at a time, has been working well for us. We are also humbled by our amazing clients who are being open-minded to our evolution and allowing us to do these pilot programs with them.
At my company, the biggest challenge has been the internal sell more than our clients.
Thanks for your refreshing insight.
@abarcelos
.-= Anna Barcelos´s last blog ..Five Confessions of an Integrated Marketing Communications Marketer =-.
It’s sad but true that IMC is but an ideal in so many organisations. I completely agree that grassroots is an important starting point for gaining management buy-in: marketing communications professional from directors to the most junior implementation staff need to consider themselves part of the vital channel which goes straight to the customer – not just a cog in a machine. They need to believe it and act like it – ‘ownership’ of the client or target does not sit with the account manager alone – it’s a common goal everyone should be working towards.
It’s also the small details that count, and which can be missed by the top-level management as they gaze towards the horizon. Marcoms teams are often the ones who can bring some great insights from social media, WOM, and simple research, to bring an organisation closer to its client. For example, taking the time to understand the professional backgrounds of key executives, what is likely to make them tick and therefore what ‘language’ they speak.
Pilots are a great way to introduce this approach and the key to sustaining good results is to ensure that those results are communicated, communicated and communicated some more. Hold them up as a best practice and that’s an important step towards an all-important culture shift to IMC.
Thanks for the great post!
Beth and Anna,
The IMC approach with built-in ROI analytics is the way to go. We incorporate a MACRO/MICRO approach so departments actually see the attainable wins ahead of them and plan accordingly. The if/then is positive and they are fueled to continue. So positive. Great post, most appreciated!
Mark, it looks like you get the gold star!
Yes, agreed…pilot programs work well. That said, I still have seen political battles over the smallest of campaigns because groups with their own budgets want the credit at the end of the day. I have a feeling that those battles will continue on until someone in upper management pulls the plug on siloed marketing/communications budgets.
Giles, lunch and learn programs are great, I’ve had success with them in the past. I think what also works are programs that bring customers and internal folks together. Often times, internal folks aren’t close enough to the customers to understand why IMC is so very important.
Kate, you bring up an even bigger challenge… IMC via an agency. I would think it’s even harder for an agency to get close enough to customers to help their clients understand the ‘outside-in’ thinking of IMC. It would take a lot of trust AND honesty for a client to admit that they aren’t as close to the customer as they claim to be (i.e. “we know them!”) or to admit the internal struggles they are having (silos, political, etc.).
BJ, yep…IMC is driven by data and analytics – SUPER smart!
There’s a great resource out there for you – a book called “The Internal Sell”. It’ll explain everything to you. Why people are resistant. What a process might look like for getting your ideas across. And it’ll give you some examples.
Just thought I’d share.
Michael
Michael, thanks for the book reference. I’m personally going through that now in my organization where we are adding a new department to a traditional company. You can imagine the change agent I’ve had to be and truly the toughest sell has been the internal sell. Employees are very comfortable with the way the company has been operating for many years. Adding this new initiative has been a challenging experience for me. It’s all about internal education, sharing small successes to earn trust and being consistent. It isn’t easy but possible. Luckily this new direction has been totally supported from the top. If it starts there, life is much easier.
.-= Anna Barcelos´s last blog ..Five Confessions of an Integrated Marketing Communications Marketer =-.
btw – I wrote that book. It’s in libraries and universities all over the world. It sells for something like $100 now, but if you google it you can get a real nice condition used version for much less. You’ll get a lot out of it. I promise it will help your career. Promise.
Michael
Oh, and one very key aspect of this whole “internal sell” thing, is that you not only share small successes, but give them. So in otherwords, you go to people and congratulate them on their contribution to what the company (your idea) is trying to do. The best, most siginificant “Internal Sell” I accomplished was one wherein I turned the entire Sprint Corporation on it’s ear, against my VP’s desires, and with getting little or no credit from most of the corporation. The people that I sold it through – subordinates of other executives – knew it was me. As did their executives. But the point is that the idea was significant, the change to the corporation’s bottom line was unbelievable, and most people didn’t know it came from me. Many people thought it was their idea. It was one of my top favorite corporate accomplishments.
(It’s in the book…)
The quickest way to gain buy in on a market focused approach versus a sales driven approach is interview your market. Speak with customers, those you quoted and lost, and those currently thinking about buying your product or service.
As I discussed in my blog http://nosmokeandmirrors.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/proven-steps-to-profitable-growth-step-one-establish-market-truth/ I really don’t care what your company Hippos (highest paid people in silos) think, I care what the market thinks.
If you really want to cause a hush over a board meeting, play a video of a customer sharing his likes and dislikes in working with your team. Unfortunately in 80% of organizations, this will be the first time your Hippo’s heard directly from a customer in years!
Mark Allen Roberts
http://www.outbsolutions.com
.-= mark allen roberts´s last blog ..Choose to be a Builder in 2010….not a Wrecker =-.
Beth
This post is exactly why I’m so glad you’re back in the blogging game. Great stuff… can’t wait to share with others that can benefit from such straightforward, simple advice.
Thanks and congrats on new gig…they’re so lucky to have you.
@TomMartin
.-= tom martin´s last blog ..How can a hotel leverage social media? =-.