First 100 days

Communities and Corporations....a clash of cultures? or an opportunity for social software?

In OxfordSM's training work with major corporations, we constantly grapple with ways to optimise the sharing of marketing insight and best practice around fragmented marketing functions.

However, even more critical is the way that marketing culture spreads into other functions.

And more critical still is the way that market-led behaviours are institutionalised within front-line encounters and back office relationships.

At least part of the answer lies in an open-source approach...as highlighted in this Economist piece.

However, bringing open-source thinking into marketing demands a radical culture shift, from one that sees customers and colleagues as static knowledge-repositories, to one which sees them as dynamic collaborators.

The question is...can marketing communities actually ever perform a decision-making role within a corporate environment? or must they play the role of agent provocateur...?

Posted by Editor at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the key leadership challenges of any executive is the establishment of a strong culture.

There can be few stronger cultures that the 'one firm' culture of McKinsey, and few better articulations of values-based leadership than that of Marvin Bower, its leader, who led the organisation's change from 'efficiency experts' to management consultants. One memo is often referred to as the tipping point for that transformation.

"We are what we speak - it defines us - it is our image. We don't have customers, we have clients. We don't serve within an industry, we are a profession. We are not a company, we are not a business. We are a firm. We don;t have employees, we have firm members and colleagues who have individual dignity. We don't have business planes, we have aspirations. We don't have rules, we have values. We are management consultants only. We are not managers, promoters or constructors."

Bower's target for McKinsey as an enduring institution was dependent upon three characteristcs:

Common values
Common problem-solving philosophy
and Action Orientation

The difference, between McKinsey, and many other branded service organisations, is that it ruthlessly and relentlessly stuck to its principles....

As 'rules' and 'processes' have replaced values, many of today's service brands have become flabby and unreliable. Marketing leaders have a duty to put this right, and stand up for the customer's interests.

Posted by Editor at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest Verdict Report on the UK retail industry emphasises the need for increased customer focus in the current economic environment: “for the first time in UK retail history, the customer really is king and the extent of the power this gives him can be seen everyday.�

For any senior marketer taking up a job in retail at the moment, this offers an opportunity to re-establish marketing as the hub for coordinating customer insight and turning it into practical reality. Yet all too ofen they will find their ability to deliver the necessary customer focus compromised by their sphere of influence vs their sphere of control.

Influence over all marketing levers and key touchpoints of the customer experience is often limited – or at best one step removed. In our experience it is more likely to be the Buying Director that controls the product mix on shelf, and the Operations Director, or Store Manager – that has most say over the instore brand experience.

All the more need therefore for new-in-post marketers to get marketing back to the top table, and end the sidelining as 'the people who do communications'. This means recruiting internal allies who can help deliver for the customer, developing the customer insights and strategy to get buy in to a customer approach to doing business, and getting more commercially hard nosed. All of which should help ensure that the marketing department is clearly amongst the most efficient, effective, responsive and listened to in the organisation!

Here’s our top tips on how to be best in class:

1. USE THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY MODEL TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE, FAST
· Don’t try to be the sole voice of the customer in the business.
· Get buy-in to a model of the complete customer journey for your business: from brand awareness, to instore experience, to purchase, and long term loyalty. Show who in your business influences which part of the journey.
· Set a vision for what a consistent customer journey should be – based on data and research evidence. How does this compare to the reality?
· Illustrate the role of different departments and teams in delivering this vision of a consistent customer experience. Get buy in and work with each of the the departments to identify and plan the changes necessary to achieve this.

2. KNOW WHO YOUR MOST VALUABLE CUSTOMERS ARE

Research has shown that despite heavy investment in loyalty schemes, Tesco and Sainsbury’s customer loyalty figures are no higher than retailers without these schemes. But what Tesco has shown is collecting the right data, and focusing on key learnings about their most valuable customers can gain higher value from existing customers AND attract more of your target customer group.
-Know who your most valuable customers are and how to keep them in an increasingly competitive environment. Is the brand proposition as strong as it can and needs to be?
-Start now to recruit the next generation of your most valuable customers – don’t let your competitors get to them first.
-And if you still have resource left, identify who your second tier of most valuable customers are, and how to get them to spend more and increase their loyalty.

3. DEMONSTRATE MARKETING’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE BUSINESSES’ GOALS

· Set a wider agenda for marketing as the voice of the customer, and customer trends, becoming central in business strategy planning.
· Review all customer knowledge and insight in the context of the current and future competitive environment. Use this to set a 5 year Marketing Strategy, demonstrating in tangible value terms what each marketing thrust will deliver to the business value goal.
· Set KPIs and measure your effectiveness against this. Talk and deliver ‘return on investment’

Good luck! Let's get rid of the fluffy bunny image once and for all!

Posted by robyn at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Booz Allen Hamilton has created a nice little survey tool which allows you to profile the role of marketing, and specifically the marketing function within your organisation.

It asks 18 questions, to assess your organisational role against 4 criteria:

• Scope of responsibilities
• Decision-rights
• Capabilities
• Organisational linkages

It then fits your responses into one of 6 categories...from service providers to growth champions.

While the aspiration of most marketers is for their function to act as a Growth Champion...the survey is smart enough to recognise that: "The “optimal" profile is the one that best matches the organization’s need, based on market positioning, competitive challenges and growth strategy. Different profiles are appropriate in different situations."

Oxford SM would strongly endorse the point that marketing capabilities, organisational design and marketing management systems must all fit the organsiation's specific growth agenda.

In accordance with our view of the First 100 Days, the aim is not for every marketer to become a CEO and every marketing function to 'own' the corporate innovation agenda, but to build a function that is fit for customer (and CEO) purpose.

Posted by Editor at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the first 100 days, a new Marketing Director needs to review the marketing function as described by their company, and work out if it is fit for purpose, and consistent with the customer's view of the organisation - often it isn't.

The first Task is sometimes just to work out who is in the Marketing Function - and who should be!

The traditional marketing function as developed by the FMCG marketers, and dominated by Product Management, is increasingly rare, and even in organisations such as P&G has long since been replaced by streamlined and globally appropriate models.

In service businesses Marketing's principal business responsibility can often be limited outbound Customer Communications (excluding one to one CRM of course!).

Most organisations will also give Marketing a leadership role, though this is often nominal, with limited power and ill-defined responsibility, and yet this area is often where marketers will instinctively know most value can be added in the long term.

To be credible however, the specialist marketing functions have to be operating seamlessly and efficiently before a Marketing Director, can start to build an extended team of customer facing functions, over which they have limited influence and even less control!

Establish Functional excellence and be recognised for it!
Get good leaders in place
Cut out obvious waste
Sub-contract non-essential services
Empower the agency to its full potential
Set internal efficiency targets and beat them
Use a common language

Then, and only then, will be ready to start leading the rest of the organisation, and broadening the Marketing Function.

Posted by jonathan at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seth Godin succinctly raises the hoary chestnut of the role of marketing. According the him, senior marketers must be architects:

"What does an architect do? She reinvents the very nature of what's delivered and how it is delivered. She reimagines the inputs and outputs of the organization, as well as its story, to create an engine of revenue that grows while benefitting all sides. The reason we hear about google and apple and jetblue and starbucks all the time is that these are poster children for re-architecting existing business models into something very different. The marketing is not slapped on. Starbucks is not Dunkin Donuts with a clever sign. If Dunkin Donuts goes out to hire a "senior marketer" and gives that person traditional senior marketer duties, not much is going to change...."

I think it's a great analogy...for bad marketing.

Yes, architects design environments for internal and external stakeholders - for the world to see, and for employees to live in.

Yes, architects seek to influence through a combination of functional design and emotional persuasion.

Yes, architects imagine dramatic solutions to pressing problems

But how much architecture is really Built to Last

How many genuinely consult with future users?

How many think in terms of centuries, rather than decades?

How many truly add to the value of the resources they consume?

Too many brands have been undermined by would-be architects, when scaffolders and structural engineers were all that was required.

As Prince Charles, might have put it: overambitious marketing can be "a monstrous carbuncle, on the face of a much loved, and elegant friend."

Posted by Editor at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)