success factors of marketing-driven Growth, Part 3.

Recently, I spoke with a CMO. He said that we need to align ourselves more closely with sales and customer satisfaction. But I also know my team is involved in all stages of the customer’s lifecycle, and that they are driving revenue.

This conversation brought a smile to me. I have had many conversations with CMOs. Why? This CMO understood his mandate to engage customers at each stage of their journey, and generate revenue for the company.

A quick review

In the past two months, I wrote the first two of a three part series on success elements for growth. You can catch up by reading part one , here, and part two , here.

This article will be based on the same principles that have guided the other parts of this series.

• Marketing’s goal is to increase corporate growth, and it must be a leader in the industry.
• Sustainable growth is not a simple thing.
• The technology is not a strategy for growth.
• The approach to marketing, sales and customer satisfaction must be uniform and share the same understanding of the client.

In this article, I will also be discussing the Growth Maturity Index ^TM that we developed at Digital Exhaust.

Let’s break down the remaining three success factors.

Success element 4: Integration of digital systems

As with the other success factors that comprise the GMI model, the majority of organizations I interact with are somewhere between the Aware stage and the Enabled stage. The lack of testing and using their customer insights to drive hyper-personalization keeps them from advancing further.

It is not that they did not do the work necessary to define their ideal client. They have developed insights, but they do not use them in a meaningful way, making their valueless.

In accordance with one of the principles mentioned above, your – technology does not constitute a growth strategy. It can only support your strategy. Almost all organizations I talk to have technology but very few have it tuned to support their customer engagement strategy. Always remember strategy first, technology second.

Success element 5: Customer analytics, data and insights

I am adamant that data is the most valuable asset for marketers. It is often overlooked. Data that is good allows for advanced analysis, which leads to insights and a strategy based on the data.

The GMI reveals that the most mature organizations use AI and machine learning to continuously optimize customer engagement, and to deliver insights to marketing and sales.

This week we saw this type of optimization support the sales process. We could use AI to share cognitive insights about a potential customer, which informed the sales discussion and subsequent follow-up.

Personalization allows for sales and a better experience for the prospect. If you want to grow your business, invest in customer data. This is a goldmine of information.

Digging deeper: Data and analytics will lead you to the truth

Success element 6: KPIs & performance

Several years back, I attended a meeting where a client was reviewing his performance metrics. A dashboard was displayed on the screen and a team member immediately took issue with the metrics. She said: “Those aren’t right,” and asked, “where did they come from?”

This sparked a discussion amongst all parties involved about the lack of insight, their sources and how they were unable to measure performance accurately, causing them to operate blindly. This organization is not an exception.

B2B companies often miss out on the chance to optimize their performance.

• They are not in agreement on the metrics they wish to use.
• These metrics have not been defined to help improve the organization.
• Diverse departments draw from different sources, leading to contradictions.
• There are many different systems.

It is detrimental to your business to use outdated or inaccurate data. The mature organizations are:

• Give high priority to growth measurement.
• Real-time insights can help you make better decisions.
• Continue to refine their approach towards sustainable growth.

Dig deep: In marketing, everything is measurable

What is your next step?

I hope that by delivering this series, organizations will start taking an honest evaluation of their growth maturity. They can then develop a growth plan. A roadmap will allow you to identify milestones and set priorities.

You can use the GMI to help you with your assessment. Bring together marketing, sales, and customer service to map your way to maturity. There will be bumps along the way, just like any other transformation. Don’t let it derail you. Don’t let the fear of starting stop you.

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