Marcia Trask

There’s no mystery as to who benefits from agile marketing adoption. Marcia Trask shows that the lineup of beneficiaries includes marketing teams, leadership, internal stakeholders, and external customers.

• In the “people/process/technology” triangle method of issue resolution, process is the underutilized approach  
• Automating processes, conducting process audits and adopting agile methodologies can drive effectiveness in times of crisis
• Process improvements are a low- to no-cost approach for greater efficiency in uncertain times

• CMOs need relevant and timely marketing performance updates for effective decisionmaking and planning
• From the beginning, CMO dashboards should be designed with the audience and their information needs in mind
• Effective dashboards tell a logical story, as measurement results are not always intuitive or readily actionable
  

• Getting approval to purchase new technology is just the beginning of an often-complex procurement process
• A successful procurement process includes clear business requirements, a vendor short list and a structured RFP review
• Expedite results by building internal stakeholder relationships and communicating proactively throughout the process

• User adoption is crucial to technology implementation, but can take time to achieve
• Vendor training is the beginning, not the end, of the user adoption process
• Understand user roles, prioritize role-based training and provide ongoing support

• Marketing skills have become an increasingly urgent topic for B2B CMOs.
• Marketing leaders are faced with a growing skills gap fueled by sweeping organizational and technological changes affecting the marketing function.
• The data from SiriusDecisions’ 2016 global CMO study is clear – an overwhelming majority of CMOs plan to acquire, revise or enhance the skill sets within their marketing function over the next two years.

• Marketing enablement is an emerging function that systematically equips marketing staff with the competencies to succeed in their job roles
• Marketing enablement functions are challenged by the lack of dedicated technology solutions to support their efforts
• Savvy leaders use a DIY approach to leverage existing technology to address their marketing enablement needs

• Regardless of company size or industry, the majority of B2B CMOs are focused on the same short list of key topics
• Account-based marketing (ABM), brand strategy, change management, organizational design, planning and technology are currently top of mind
• Marketing professionals can leverage a variety of resources to support CMO initiatives in these areas

• Defining and effectively measuring marketing influenced pipeline is top of mind for operations practitioners
• Developing and executing impactful buyer needs-based campaigns remains an important issue
• There continue to be questions on organization structure and alignment between sales and marketing operations

• Successful MRM implementations address pre- and post-implementation workstreams in addition to technology selection
• Workstreams include requirements gathering, relationship building, implementation prep, training, user adoption and system support
• Leverage cross-functional working teams and a proactive communications plan to ensure project success

• The explosion of new marketing resource management (MRM) solution offerings gives marketers many choices – and a need for structured decisionmaking
• First define requirements in the four areas of MRM functionality: planning/budgeting, project management, asset management and communications
• Evaluate build vs. buy and suite vs. pure-play considerations to develop a focused list of MRM solutions to meet requirements

• B2B organizations can come together in shared experiences of marketing competency development and marketing enablement
• While it’s important to train marketers to use new tools, it’s vital that they understand foundational marketing skills
• Keep in mind that marketing managers need enablement, too

• One of the questions we are frequently asked is “What makes a good marketing plan?”
• To sort out the confusion around building a good marketing plan, it’s important to separate the inputs from the outputs
• Inputs into the marketing plan can be grouped into three categories

• Discover benefits that.competency mapping can bring to a B2B marketing organization
• B2B marketing teams are grappling with a significant level of change that is fueling a growing skills gap
• Creating a list of core competencies, and aligning them to marketing functions, allows leaders to build focused competency maps

• As marketing organizations adopt an integrated campaign approach, there’s often a struggle to create buyer-centric campaigns
• We’ve created a list of six fundamental campaign planning questions that we challenge you to answer
• The SiriusDecisions Campaign Framework assists with marketing planning and execution to align the overall organization to business goals

• B2B marketing has changed dramatically due to technology shifts, the popularity of data and analytics, and empowered buyers
• The gap between what marketers used to do and what they must do now is getting wider
• Many skills fall into the categories of messaging, content strategy, technology and analytics

• The need for marketing operations has increased because of changes in the buying process, marketing technology, and buyer and customer data
• Current marketing operations staffing levels vary based on.company size but range from 4 to 5 percent of total marketing staff
• To support the needs of stakeholders, marketing operations’ range of responsibilities is extensive and diverse

What actions can a B2B organization take for better cooperation and alignment between sales and marketing teams? Find out our findings and advice.

A frequent question I hear from clients is, “Should we combine our sales operations and marketing operations functions into one team?” When I get this question, I start hearing the old Sesame Street jingle “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others” playing in my head. Sales and marketing operations may look very similar […]