Marketing and IT often have different objectives. Typically the Marketing group cares about getting more leads, more customers and growing revenue. The IT group is measured on whether they’ve implemented the right technologies, kept costs down and served the business. To be successful, there must be a high level commitment to the vision of what project will accomplish. This includes transcending the metrics the teams are measured on. In order to do this properly, roles and areas of responsibility for all members of the project team must be clearly defined.

Defining Relationship Roles and Responsibilities

The RACI model helps organizations define roles & responsibilities during a change process. The ‘A” stands for who is ultimately accountable for the success of the task, at a high level. The Marketing department should be responsible for defining the problem. They should also determine the vision for the business process. The IT department should be responsible for providing guidance on technologies. Implementation and ongoing support is IT’s responsibility. It is not enough to just define high level ownership, as the devil is always in the details – accountability for each step must be clearly defined.

What are the steps to implementing a new technology and who does what?

1. Defining the problem – This is typically the first step. Marketing needs to clearly define and communicate what the current challenge or opportunity is that they are trying to solve.
2. Defining desired outcomes – Next, Marketing must create a proposal to explain the problem or opportunity and get internal teams to buy in to try and solve it. For large enough projects it is important to have sponsors, preferably the CMO and the CIO to ensure alignment from the top down.
3. Defining the requirements – This stage of the project is an interesting one as either Marketing or IT could be accountable for this step. Keep in mind, whoever is writing the detailed requirements should have an understanding of the Marketing goals and a good idea of what can be achieved with technology.
4. Offering up technologies – The first decision that needs to be made is whether to build or buy. If the decision is to buy, or at least start by looking at what technologies are out there, this is usually a joint effort between the Marketing and IT teams. Though IT is ultimately accountable, it is critical to get buy in from the Marketing business folks as they will the the users of this technology.
5. Choosing a vendor – The next step is to choose a vendor and this is one where truly IT and Marketing have equal footing. Sometimes the owner of the budget has a little more say in the end decision, but at the end of the day the chosen solution must solve the business need and also meet IT standards.
6. Building and integrating the solution – This is where the handoff to IT begins. Depending on the decision that has been made, they build the solution or buy one and integrate it into the existing technology stack.
7. Project management – For any large project to be successful, you need a strong project manager. Since IT leads the implementation process, it makes sense for the IT team to be ultimately responsible for ensuring timeliness and quality.
8. Testing – Initial testing is usually owned by the IT team. Once they have determined the system is stable, they will hand over testing to the Marketing team. The Marketing team then validates that the requested functionality meets their need as defined in the requirements.
9. Launch – Once the new technology is ready, it should be treated like a product launch. The Marketing team needs to position the benefits of this new technology, train users and ensure adoption. Celebrating successes together is also important once the project has launched.
10. Ongoing maintenance – At the end of the day, the IT team is the team that supports all technical issues for the Marketing team. It is important for IT to have a good handle on what has been built, have resources to support it and also a relationship with the vendor to escalate issues if necessary.

Eliminating Breakups

Relationships are never easy, they take an immense amount of effort to maintain. To that end, if the relationship with your ‘work spouse’ is on rocky terrain, here is some wise counsel to encourage you to get back on the right track.

• The first, of course, is to follow a similar process to the one above. Lack of clarity around roles, areas of ownership and goals can cause a rift between Marketing and IT.
• Don’t go it alone. When the Marketing and IT leadership is not aligned, it sometimes results in either group managing to secure the budget and purchasing a rogue tool that may or may not meet Marketing’s needs or IT’s requirements. This serves no one well, ultimately making it a business management nightmare.
• Make critical decisions with the end in mind. When technology decisions are made for the sake of implementing shiny new technologies v.s. to enable a business need. If the technology does not solve a business problem, chances are adoption will be low and cause turmoil between the two teams.

Like a marriage, the relationship between IT and Marketing must be one of accountability, compromise and teamwork. Aligning these teams will ensure successful implementation of the technologies that solve business problems. And as you all work toward the success of your company, don’t forget to enjoy the ride!

5. Encourage action from your audience

One of the first things you want to do in your marketing strategy is to encourage your audience to take action, to do something. You want your marketing efforts either directly or indirectly to cause your target market to react (positively) and perform some action as a result of your marketing plan. Don’t think that everything needs to be a sale either. Some of the best marketing campaigns don’t encourage a purchase or a subscription but simply encourage action. Maybe your action is self-improvement for the audience, or maybe your action is for the common good. Action can take many forms and you shouldn’t be afraid to take the long approach.

Also, don’t get suckered into thinking every conversation, every marketing campaign needs to end with a revenue increase. The intangible aspects of building a brand and a following are very important keys to a successful marketing team.

Encouraging action and involvement from your audience causes motion and motion presents opportunities for change and change leads to growth. And just as you want to encourage this action, don’t be afraid to start small. This leads to the second observation.

4. Be focused on small wins

Notice that this title doesn’t say, complete this 100 item checklist, read this 1,000 page essay, and then create a 10 year daily marketing plan. Instead the focus is to start small. Do this one thing. By lowering the expectations and the “ask” from your audience you set the stage for an easy win. This is a similar approach you’ll find in the most popular video games. In fact, this philosophy is well-studied and has been the topic of many research papers.

Take any mobile app game these days and you’ll be sure to find this concept at work. Hundreds of tiny levels. Each one slightly more challenging than the last but each one providing a single, simple task or challenge. This is a perfect example of the small win objective. As you complete more levels you become more engaged, you continue to play the game driven by the motivation to win just one more level, after all it’s such a small investment of time and effort.

This ‘small win’ mentality will serve you well as you build your marketing strategy. Don’t ask your target audience to do too much at once. Be ok with starting small and setting them up for success. Remember that this wins don’t all have to end in a sale either. You’re working towards a long-term relationship.

3. Be positive in your engagement

The blog title says “to win” this instills a sense of positivity. You will be successful, you will win. This positive reinforcement encourages your target market to undertake the task at hand because you’ve planted the suggestion they will have a positive outcome. When you’re interacting with your audience don’t be overly negative or pessimistic. No one likes to be around someone that’s always complaining. Saturday Night Live portrays this perfectly with their “Debbie Downer” skit. Watch below and have a good laugh.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/19280

Wait, did you see what just happened? You were given a simple focused task, it doesn’t lead to any measurable outcome, but it builds the relationship, and this particular task ends (hopefully) in a few smiles. This type of positive engagement encourages and motivates your audience. They want to continue reading, continue interacting, continue building the relationship.

Don’t get carried away thinking everything needs to be upbeat all the time, but keep a good perspective. Keep your overall marketing message clear, encouraging and supportive.

2. Have a plan for your marketing

The final piece of the article title says winning at “your marketing strategy”. This implies that you have a plan. Your marketing must be focused on accomplishing a purpose. Don’t get so caught up in the immediate short-term wins that you fail to establish long-term goals. You don’t want to lose momentum or lose potential direction because you’re not focused in your goals. Have strong and yet achievable marketing goals. Create a marketing roadmap and set a course of action for how you will accomplish that strategy.

A marketing strategy can be quite detailed and involved. You should focus on defining key milestones, again focus on the easy-to-accomplish wins. Just as your audience needs to build their confidence through small successes, so do you as a marketer. You should devote your time and attention to accomplishing small and measurable wins.

1. ______

Now, you’ve skimmed this article, partly because you are looking for a golden key that will make your marketing strategy successful. You’re looking for the one thing you need to do to win marketing strategy. Here’s your answer, here is the one thing you simply must do and if you do you will win.

As a marketer you absolutely must continue to learn. You can’t sit still and stagnate. You have to read articles like this, you have to identify where you are weak in your marketing strategy, and you have to grow. Don’t think of this as a single key, but rather think of it as a reminder to focus on what’s truly important and to refocus on what you should be doing as a marketer. Learn, practice, improve, grow.