We are small, fast, flexible, and very easy to work with. We leverage a combination of domain expertise, practical experience, proven methodologies, and a passion for research to help our clients tackle Marketing Operations challenges. These challenges typically revolve around people (organizational design), process, systems (marketing automation tools), and data. Typical engagements involve one or more of the following services:
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT AND STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT
Do you plan to upgrade your marketing system but require cross-functional support to make it happen? Do you suspect you have dirty data, but don’t know how to get all of the issues on the table? Are you about to deploy a new process and need management buy in? These are all good reasons to bring in a third party to interview your stakeholders, get everyone working toward the same goals, and build a plan to realize your objectives.
Leveraging our independent, unbiased perspective and knowledge of best practices, we conduct and document in-depth, cross-functional interviews; summarize our findings and recommendations; solicit stakeholder validation; and develop a prioritized roadmap with project plans.
MARKETING AUTOMATION VENDOR SELECTION
Are you bombarded by claims made by demand generation vendors? Do you need a new tool but are hesitant to buy something difficult to staff? Are you considering outsourcing your demand generation work? If so, you could benefit from some vendor-neutral straight talk from experts who track implementations that fail and implementations that succeed – and study the differences. We know and work with all of the vendors, and we have facilitated a dozen system implementations at large and small companies.
Using our deep knowledge of the vendors in the marketing automation space, we apply a proven methodology to identify your specific business requirements, develop a short list of the most appropriate vendors, undertake a rigorous and unbiased review of vendor RFP responses and demos, handle customer reference calls, and facilitate your final selection.
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION AND DOCUMENTATION
Do you optimize and document your processes every year? This is especially important in Marketing as there is constant flux in the array of automated tools available, in real-time business results required, and in the patterns of your customers’ behaviors. If you don’t take the time to examine your processes and refine them to meet market needs, you risk losing a competitive edge.
Are you experiencing issues with non-standardized, undocumented or constantly iterative processes? Is the lack of clear process causing friction between functional teams or business units? Are campaign and product launches always a fire drill? How about your customer briefing program and events? Have you properly automated the workflow of these efforts? These are all symptoms of underlying marketing process issues.
We are adept at process documentation, assessment of bottlenecks, recommendation of process improvements, and the creation of process visualization deliverables.
EXECUTIVE ADVISORY SERVICES
Does your boss need your latest org chart and a PPT of your team’s mission? Do you have an idea you’d like to confidentially brainstorm? Would you like help finding the right person for a key role in your group? Do you need research done quickly for your boss’ next staff meeting? Our Marketing Ops backgrounds include serving as the Chief of Staff for our CMOs. We love these ad hoc requests and our most senior clients find this service of immense value.
Usually on a retainer, we serve as a resource Marketing Execs can rely on for a quick turnaround, innovative problem solving, confidentiality, and round-the-clock support.
METRICS REVIEW AND EXECUTIVE DASHBOARD DESIGN
Have you had an executive dashboard in place for a while? Do you know if executives are able to make the decisions they need from that data? Or have you not yet implemented a dashboard? Regardless of where you are on the ‘dashboard journey’, it’s important to conduct an annual review to ensure the things you are measuring are truly enabling good executive decision-making.
Our process involves interviewing decision makers to gauge their satisfaction with current reports and dashboards and solicits ideas for new data that would help them do their jobs better. We have a methodology for building a metrics hierarchy that maps which data pieces need to be delivered to which manager/executive, and with what frequency. We couple this with an evaluation of your systems, data flows, and data quality then provide you with a series of recommendations, a metrics hierarchy document, and a dashboard mock-up.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Frankly, we prefer being with clients than doing just about anything else. So while we don’t actively seek speaking engagements, we are often willing participants!
In our work, we associate marketing operations with the Japanese word ‘kaizen’. Kaizen refers to the process of constant and never-ending improvement in pursuit of excellence. This philosophy asserts that small steps taken on a consistent basis ultimately result in excellence. Even small measures can improve awareness, demand generation, and sales enablement programs, resulting in an increase in revenue—and sometimes a reduction in the cost of marketing. Research by SiriusDecisions has shown that a concerted focus on marketing processes, systems, and data can increase sales by a factor of five.