Advice for Marketing Executives During Tough Times

If you don't know who Marshall Goldsmith is, find out and read his books and articles.  He is one of the premier executive coaches in the country.  In reviewing his blog, housed at the Harvard Business Review, I came across this post (and stole the title): Advice for Marketing Executives During Tough Times.  One of his readers asked "Do you have any specific suggestions for marketing executives in this challenging climate?"

He turned to Susanne Lyons, former CMO of Visa and Charles Schwab and now an advisory board member of marketing innovation company Marketo. 

I have reproduced her response below and added my comments, which are directed towards PSF marketers, in the parentheticals.  I do not presume to improve upon Ms. Lyons suggestions, which are outstanding.  My comments are designed to speak directly to marketers at smaller professional services firms.

1. Have a thorough understanding of how the business runs. Many marketers are creative or have deep functional expertise but lack general business training. Set aside time to learn the ins and outs of your businesses - for example: revenue drivers, influences on profitability, corporate vision, and budget. To earn credibility, you not only need to keep track of your own budget, but also understand exactly what the marketing function is doing to drive bottom-line results.  (I would also add that in addition to driving bottom-line results, PSF marketers have to be focused on driving top-line results.  Having a thorough understanding of the business is vital.  I have met many wonderful and creative marketers who do not really understand the services a CPA / BV firm provides.  A marketer doesn't have to be a technician, yet we do have to educate ourselves on the firm's services, and as such, revenue drivers, etc.)

2. Speak the same language as other executives. Chances are your peers talk in terms of revenue, cash flow, and profitability - they don't have an ear for the soft language marketers grew up with like "brand awareness." Listen to how your peers are talking and adopt their lingo. Think of how you can explain your activities and results using terms that resonate with them. (Marketers in a financial services world can sometimes be lost.  The BV fee-earners I work with talk about cash flow, EBITDA, specific company risk, CAPM, and on and on.  Ask yourself if you know the difference between revenue and net income.  Many marketers do not.  If you work in a financial services firm, you have to learn the lingo.)

3. Align yourself with the rest of your executive team. Driving revenue hinges on alignment of marketing with sales and other functions. For example, you don't want the CEO and CFO coming to you and saying, "You never justify why we're spending so much money, so we're cutting your budget." Having meetings to discuss methodology and the types of metrics the other executives are looking for, such as what the VP of Sales thinks of as a "qualified lead," will align your role with theirs. (This advice is important even for smaller firms without these defined departments. We have to work with the partners to understand the metrics they value and keep the lines of communication open.)

4. Find the right reporting tools. Arm yourself with tools that let you say: "here's the proof that we really helped drive these results." These tools generate hard numbers such as how many leads were brought in and how many of those leads converted, and you need them in order to demonstrate a firmer business case.  (We always have to focus on ROI.)

5. Measure your way to a seat at the table. The only way to prove your impact is to make measurement your mantra. Whether it's measuring response to offers, Web site click-throughs, or lead quality, those measurements will justify how you spend your money and prove that you deserve a seat at the executive table. (For smaller firms, this can often be difficult to do.  However, find ways to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.  We can track click-throughs, responses to mailings, business from speaking engagements, etc.)

For professional service firm marketers, Ms. Lyons' suggestions are spot on.  Reading through the comments to the post, I was also struck by the thoughts of one of the commenters, Umesh Ramakrishnan:

I read your posting with interest. As I was interviewing CMOs for a recent project, the one thing that stuck in my head was when a CMO of a leading software company told me that he clearly remembers the day that he felt business unit leaders aligned with him. It was the day that he defined the business problems and solutions from their perspective - not from a marketing perspective. He felt that this was a trait that is missing from many CMOs. People talk about aligning with business leaders and confuse that with ingratiating them by simply providing marketing support. That is not the way to do it. Look at the problem through their prism. Feel their pain and solve the problem from their perspective. (emphasis added)

This is all good advice.  If you are a PSF marketer, learn from this wisdom.  If you are a fee-earner, pass this along to your marketing executive.