|
       |
| About Us | Our Team | Our Members | Job Opportunities | Directions | News | Site Search |
 |
Location: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Editor's Notebook: The Power of Indirect Over the last several years, ITSMA has talked a great deal about rebalancing marketing communications, putting relatively less emphasis on direct "push" activities (e.g., direct mail, email, and calling) and investing rather more in indirect "pull" (e.g., thought leadership, PR, and Web). In a skeptical buyers market, customers are much more interested in third party recommendations than in a provider pitch. Meanwhile, however, a great many firms have greatly refined targeting and segmentation strategies, enabling much sharper focus on niche markets and individual accounts. Does this mean that direct marketing is ready for a comeback? After all, once you understand prospective customers in much greater depth, you're much more able to craft a value proposition that speaks directly to those customers' needs. Well, yes and no. Certainly highly targeted and personalized direct marketing can be more effective than a broader brush approach. Indeed, some ITSMA member companies are putting new investment into direct marketing programs. But the reality of an on-demand marketplace, where business buyers expect access to any information they want, and strictly on their own schedule, suggests that direct marketing will continue to decline in relative impact. In a solutions-oriented world, the job of marketing communicators increasingly revolves around stimulating discussion, contributing to industry debates, and facilitating problem-solving collaboration. As such, investing in ideas, building online presence, and participating in customer communities should all move to the top of the programmatic list. This may require some rethinking of budgetary and professional development priorities. And the measurement challenge is surely a bit more complex. With buyers in ever-greater control of the market, however, the providers best able to shift into indirect high gear will reap the greatest rewards.  [TOP OF PAGE] What's Hot: Getting Below the Surface: Marketing Priorities and Plans for 2006 Dave Munn, president and CEO of ITSMA, recently sat down to discuss marketing’s biggest challenges for the year ahead, why marketers need to experiment more, and what smart marketers are focusing on in 2006. ITSMA: In what ways do you anticipate marketing departments venturing out of their comfort zones in the coming year? Munn: Marketing has always been about exploring new tools and techniques, and that is no different today. The new online spheres of influence, for example, are growing faster than many people realize, and technology providers are just starting to dip their toes in. ITSMA research over the past few years shows that more and more sales leads are coming in indirectly. Given this reality, companies need to accelerate online investments and participate more actively in the emerging online communities. They need to be more aware of what’s being said about them in the digital world in order to keep their fingers on the pulse of their brands and effectively communicate in today’s networked world. ITSMA: As the results of ITSMA’s 2006 Services Marketing Budget Survey start to come in, are you seeing any notable trends? Munn: One unfortunate trend that is carrying forward into 2006 is the relatively low level of services marketing funding at most companies. Right now, technology firms are investing between one and two percent of their services revenues in marketing. As a result, a lot of services marketing is like a rock skimming across the surface of a pond—it’s there, but it’s not making a big impact. As the industry changes, marketing needs to go below the surface, but it’s hard to get there with such small budgets. ITSMA: In order to “go below the surface,” what should smart marketers focus on in 2006? Munn: First off—and I’m sure this won’t surprise anyone—marketers need to build an even deeper understanding of their customers. Not just customers’ industries, not just customers’ companies, but right down to individuals themselves. Buyers are bombarded with so many marketing messages that we need to make our outreach more highly targeted and relevant than ever before. That’s why the practice of account-based marketing gained such momentum in 2005. Related to this is the opportunity for marketing to take a real leadership role in managing the customer engagement model. Right now, there are many different groups touching the customer at various points along the sales cycle (marketing, sales, delivery, customer reference teams, user groups, PR …), and no real owner. As you can imagine, it gets messy. Marketers who can wrap their heads around how and when customers want to engage, how to build customer communities that provide real value for their members, and how to effectively coordinate all the necessary touchpoints will earn credibility and respect. ITSMA: It sounds like you’re advocating for marketing to step outside its traditional roles. Munn: Absolutely. In today’s competitive environment, marketing really needs to be more responsible for shaping the company’s strategy and direction. Because we’re the owners of so much customer and competitive intelligence, we usually have the best vantage point from which to determine where new opportunities will come from, so we should be playing an important role in offer and portfolio development. We’re also particularly well positioned for generating internal excitement around these new opportunities and changes in strategy—and gaining the support of its people is perhaps the most critical factor for ensuring the success of a project, strategy, or change in a company’s business approach. Indeed, if marketing doesn’t move beyond its traditional marcom territory, it will just run around in circles like a hamster on a wheel, running and running but never really getting anywhere. ITSMA: As marketing departments move toward becoming more strategic, what should they do to ensure that their people have the right skills for the job? Munn: Marketing management needs to be able to assess the skills and talent of its employees so that it can then help them develop expertise in new areas such as digital communications, community building, and corporate strategy. Some of these skills can be learned by working with outside agencies, specialist firms, and advisors who can guide change programs and teach employees how to do the same. There’s also a lot to be said for hiring new people who’ve already proven they have the skills you need. In 2005, for example, GE brought in 1,900 new sales and marketing people in an effort to become more marketing- and innovation-led. This year, in order to help move the department into a more strategic role, I’d recommend that marketing start looking for people who have finance and project management skills. Just as marketing messages should be more business-oriented, so should marketers themselves strive to be more in tune with their own companies’ business strategies and goals. For more insight from Dave and ITSMA's Budget Survey, please be sure to attend our annual State of the Profession Web Briefing on January 24. To register, visit http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/06OB01N01.htm. You may send any questions or comments you have for Dave to him directly at dmunn@itsma.com. On the Job: Redefining Customer and Market Engagement: How BT Became More Market-LedWith an increasing number of its customers moving to integrated communications and IT networks, British Telecom (BT) knew that it needed a better sense of customer and market priorities to sell its most profitable service offerings across the various geographic regions, vertical industries, and individual companies it serves. So in the summer of 2004, the company kicked off a major initiative to review its business-to-business (B2B) target markets, customers, and value propositions. “This was a massive undertaking,” said Andrew Campling, general manager of UK Major Customers Marketing for BT. “We wanted to restructure our go-to-market model so that it reflected the realities of today’s global marketplace and allowed us to take advantage of our biggest opportunities. You can’t do that overnight.” The first step was creating “Sector Councils,” groups composed of senior managers from across BT’s three main business units—marketing, sales, and delivery and support. Each council focused on a specific market segment; the ultimate objective was to lay out a comprehensive three-year business plan that would leverage the company’s relationships around the globe and increase the sale of value-added services. Fundamental to the process was a detailed understanding of customer needs. To gain this insight, the company conducted a series of market audits across each of its key verticals. The techniques it used included macro-environmental (situation) analysis as well as micro analysis to identify market triggers in each vertical. The information gathered enabled the councils to build an understanding of the major issues that were likely to cause customers to buy in the next 12 months. At the same time, the company looked at generic market sizing data to size opportunities against market triggers in the various verticals. Next, BT mapped out its delivery capabilities for each opportunity, to identify the overall addressable market. The company also developed a value pyramid to examine the range of potential services in the portfolio and identify the higher-value services that each vertical might take advantage of. (IP infrastructure services are located at the base of the pyramid; professional services sit at the top.) In the United Kingdom, the company took the process a step further. There, it reviewed its database, with account managers responsible for capturing customer information, including:
After the information was collected, the company used independent research to verify the information’s accuracy. Using the customer data, sales forecasts, and results from the market audits, all 5,000 of the BT U.K. Major Customers were put into one of five tiers that reflect their current relationship with BT, existing and potential value to BT, and propensity to buy from BT. The company now allocates marketing and sales resources to these accounts based on their tier rankings. Even at a comparatively early stage, the review process has had a number of real and tangible benefits. Sales and marketing now have cooperatively-built worldwide sales and marketing plans for key market segments, and there is a global account team that manages approximately 100 of the company’s key global accounts. BT also has a much better understanding of which segments hold more opportunities and is able to focus its resources accordingly. In fact, the company’s entire service portfolio is being redefined based on this newfound awareness of the most attractive market segments as well as a more holistic view of the needs of priority customers. “Overall,” concluded Campling, “this initiative has enabled us to take a huge step forward in becoming truly market-led.” —Meghann Grandy, info@itsma.com BT won a 2005 ITSMA Marketing Excellence Award for this initiative. To read more about the program, please visit http://www.itsma.com/News/mea/recent_winners.htm. EuroNotes: Getting the Right Balance: More Decentralised Marketing in Europe?As marketers look to achieve more with less by leveraging corporate branding, centrally defined offers, and global communications campaigns, it is easy to forget that each country in Europe has a very different economic profile, culture, and buying style—and that each needs an appropriate ‘local’ marketing approach. Striking the right balance between global, regional, subregional, and country-based marketing activities has never been easy, and last year we saw a number of companies publicly reevaluate their go-to-market approaches in Europe. In fact, a cyclical see-saw between centralisation and decentralisation seems to be a pattern for many companies. Today, the balance is tipping in favour of greater decentralisation, with companies such as IBM stripping away regional marketing activities in favour of a more local focus. (U.S.-owned companies such as IBM have traditionally been the most centralised; their European and Japanese peers have always had a more locally driven approach to marketing—and to business in general.) But it is not just the shift to more country-based marketing that’s interesting, it is also the activities that local marketers are being asked to execute. Traditionally, country marketers have picked up the more ‘tactical’ end of the marketing spectrum (golf/lunch/dinner, anyone?). But this is now changing. Many of the tactical activities, including market research and specialist communications activities, are being pulled into central shared service teams. At the same time, some of the more strategic activities, such as market segmentation and targeting, portfolio management, and offer development, are being driven and shaped at a local level. In some cases, country-based marketers are acting as coaches to local business managers, facilitating the strategy process in the country and, at the same time, leading matrixed teams for international programmes such as thought leadership and reference management. The shift to more local decision making is perhaps a natural consequence of what has happened in the world in recent years—and is following other emergent management thinking such as distributed leadership. But it does put a strain on local marketers; I’ve seen many of them, and they’re not happy! You see, the demand for those golf/lunch/dinner arrangements doesn’t just go away. But for most country-based marketers, that demand now represents a distraction from the really interesting work they need to do around identifying and prioritising local market opportunities and designing content-rich programmes to go after them. Some marketers have responded by outsourcing much of the tactical work (either to an internal shared service or an external agency), while others have developed internal metrics systems to evaluate whether the golf/lunch/dinner activities are worth doing at all. As local marketers struggle to balance their tactical and strategic activities, companies are stepping up to the plate by providing corporate templates, common processes, and shared systems for strategy development and marketing planning at a local level. Many companies make Web-based training available to their local marketers, and some have even established a ‘marketing academy’ that provides a framework for continuous professional development. Underpinning all of this is work with HR to define the competencies that country-based marketers now need and to build job and employee specifications to recruit and develop them. We won’t know for quite some time whether the shift to more decentralised marketing we are now seeing is just another swing of the see-saw or a more fundamental change. In the meantime, please join us for a discussion of other key marketing trends and priorities during an ITSMA Web Briefing on January 24: http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/06OB01N01.htm. —Bev Burgess, info@itsma.com Research Desk Marketing in the New Spheres of Influence: How Do You Fare in Today’s Digital Discussions?Blogs, podcasts, video logs, wikis, social networks—digital communication channels are growing at a frantic pace and having a significant impact on the market, and many technology marketers are struggling to keep up. According to Technorati, a new blog is created nearly every second. Perhaps more important, a survey of Technorati’s newsletter subscribers suggests that respondents are much more likely to trust product information from a blogger than from the company itself (63% vs. 37%). Nevertheless, relatively few business marketers are monitoring the blogsphere systematically to see what’s being said about them. ITSMA has teamed up with Digital Influence Group (DIG), a global digital media relations agency, to help change this situation. Later this month, ITSMA and DIG will launch a new multiclient study, Marketing in the New Spheres of Influence. The study is designed to help companies understand how to connect with technology buyers through digital channels, including blogs, online communities, social networks, and reputation aggregators such as Google and Yahoo. “ITSMA research shows that more and more customers are investigating IT vendors and their services on the Internet,” said Dave Munn, president and CEO of ITSMA. “Companies need to ensure that they create a presence where today’s proactive buyers are looking. Marketing in the New Spheres of Influence will identify the most influential new digital sources—and show what buyers are finding when they get there.” Marketing in the New Spheres of Influence will answer questions such as:
Study participation is limited to 12 company sponsors. For more information about this opportunity, visit http://www.itsma.com/Research/prospectus/mk0575_spheres.htm or contact Lori Weiner at +1-781-862-8500, ext. 42, or lweiner@itsma.com. —Lori Weiner, lweiner@itsma.com
[TOP OF PAGE] Upcoming Events Marketing Mandates 2006: ITSMA's Annual State of the Profession Address Thinking Strategically about Relationship Growth: Priority Initiatives
for Key Accounts Marketing’s Top Challenges: Customer Insight, Digital Connections,
and Relationship Growth Growing the Business with Micro- and Account-Based Marketing Solutions from
the Outside In: ITSMA's 2006 Marketing Leadership Forum
Ask ITSMA! Do you have a services marketing question? (c) Copyright 2006, ITSMA Please forward this newsletter, but only in its entirety. Public citation or publication of any information herein is encouraged but subject to U.S. and international copyright law and conventions. Any citation must include full attribution to ITSMA. Individual graphics or paragraphs can be published without permission as long as attribution to ITSMA is included. Publication of longer selections or complete articles requires ITSMA permission. For permission or more information, contact pr@itsma.com. [TOP OF PAGE] Subscription Information Subscriptions are available in text and HTML versions. To SUBSCRIBE or to change the format of your subscription, visit http://www.itsma.com/aspfiles/press/ezine.asp. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email us at unsubscribe@itsma.com or mail us at ITSMA Subscriptions, 420 Bedford Street, Suite 110, Lexington, MA 02420, USA. Back issues of ITSMA E-ZINE are available at http://www.itsma.com/News/ezine/default.htm. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ITSMA |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
