If you haven’t been to one of the DFW AMA Executive Luncheons lately, you’re really missing out! I had the pleasure of volunteering with some of Dallas’ finest marketing folk and also take a few lessons from VP Marketing of EG Americas at HP, Allison Cerra.
As marketers, she explained, we are constantly faced with the battle of justifying ourselves and the role our agencies play in a company’s ROI. We must always find ways to prove to our CEO’s that marketing contributes to the bottom line. But how? Although Allison promised three basic tips to be successful, she gave us a bonus pointer!
1. Be Relevant
Do you find yourself constantly sharing statistics that discuss retweets, follows, visits to the website, etc.?
All of these stats are important, but if you have not established true goals and understand how and if your work is contributing to the bottom line, STOP IT! It’s time to set up your SMART goals, communicate with your sales team, and start being relevant to what is most important to the CEO and company: ROI.
2. Play Offense
Believe it or not, about 69% of CEO’s believe that marketing is a waste of time, money, and resources. To stay on the offense, you must clearly define your goals, make sure that sales and marketing come to a happy place, and talk about the purpose behind your goals.
3. Always Go After the 3 H’s
- Head – Explain your plan of action. Defend your strategies with case studies, numbers, etc. Win over your team with proof!
- Heart – If people aren’t truly vested in your idea with their heart, you’re going to lose them. Find out what’s important to them and how you can tie in your new goals to their own.
- Hands – Now that you’ve won over your team, you’ve got to get them to get back to (or start) work! Play out those call to actions.
4. Prepare to Show Your Medal
In business, you will fight many battles. You will be criticized and put through the ringer. But, at the end of it all, these obstacles will refine your character — just like a medal has to go through fire to be reshaped and altered.
Take risks and be the change that will keep your organization moving forward.
