In today’s digital marketing landscape there are no more excuses. Gone are the days where we would buy ads and hope for the best. Today, we have access to data that marketers could have only wished for a few years ago.
As a result, CEOs now want marketers to become 100% ROI-focused. Unfortunately less than 1 in 3 companies are able to properly calculate marketing ROI.
In this guide we look at the Accountable Marketing Methodology that we developed at Complexant to provide you with a structured approach to work from and build upon. Any marketing department can use this methodology to go from a traditional or lead-gen focused marketing organisation to an accountable, revenue-focused marketing organisation.
We will look at:
- How the Media Landscape has changed and how that affects the role of marketing.
- The CAM Methodology for Accountable Marketing.
- The Four Revenue Pillars and 5 Revenue Milestones.
- Why (new) Digital Marketing tactics aren't the answer.
While each and every organisation is unique and the scope of this guide only scratches the surface of the overall revenue marketing discussion - we hope you will find it valuable as a reference point to build upon when your formulating your own plans.
For more stuff like this visit our blog at http://www.complexant.com
2. Contents.
01. About the author.
02. Introduction.
03. The CAM Methodology.
04. Analysis.
05. Strategy.
06. Education.
07. Execution.
08. In Conclusion.
09. It’s time for a change.
3. About The Author.
Sharif Khalladi is the founder of Complexant. He is also an award-winning
entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, consultant and the author of
The Social Executive.
Over the last decade, Sharif has collaborated with businesses varying from solo
enterprises to multi-billion dollar corporations to create value and then market,
sell, deliver and profit from that value creation while growing and strengthening
their market position.
Industry leaders such as Cisco, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Canon Europe,
T-Mobile, Mitsubishi and Yamaha Motors have capitalized on Sharif’s ideas and
strategies, successfully integrating them into their business with profound and
consistent results.
01
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LET’S CONNECT
4. Introduction.
In today’s digital marketing landscape there are no more
excuses. Gone are the days where we would buy ads
and hope for the best. Today, we have access to data that
marketers could have only wished for a few years ago.
With the rise of social networks, the mobile web and
the adoption of multiple devices customer behaviour
has changed dramatically as well. They now live at the
intersection of paid, owned and earned media in what is
often referred to as converged media.
Where at one point in time there was a clear differentiation
between paid media (i.e. traditional advertising), owned
media (i.e. your company website) and earned media (i.e.
press coverage in a trade publication) we have now seen
those borders fade.
02
The Converged Media Landscape
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PAID MEDIA OWNED MEDIA
EARNED MEDIA
CONVERGED
MEDIA
5. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are now all-in-one paid, owned and
earned media. And it seems like the customer doesn’t really care what is what
anymore. They decide how they experience the new media landscape. They
access the web on their smartphone, tablet and desktop computers. They
use mobile apps, social media dashboards and “readers” to syndicate content
from a multitude of channels. They consume, filter, curate and share. They are
converged.
And we are left playing catch up. Unless we evolve with them. Unless we become
accountable.
As a result, CEOs now want marketers to become 100% ROI-focused.
Unfortunately less than 1 in 3 companies are able to properly calculate marketing
ROI.
02
“3 out of 4
CEOs want
marketers to
become 100%
ROI-focused.”
- Eloqua
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6. Organisations must learn how to tap into this converged media landscape and
educate themselves through the proper capture and use of data and then build
their strategy around the insights that come from it. More than ever, there is a
need for education, both internally and externally. And finally, with more channels
than ever, we need to execute more efficiently.
Many companies are stuck in what I like to call the “branding trap” - where failed
attempts to generate revenue (or even leads) through marketing are reframed as
successes where the objective somehow became building awareness instead
of contributing to the company revenue. Vanity metrics such as site visits and
potential reach are celebrated until at one point we seem forget what we’re even
doing: building a business.
Luckily there is another way.
02
“Organisations
must learn how
to tap into this
converged
media land-
scape.”
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7. In this guide we look at the Accountable Marketing Methodology that we
developed at Complexant to provide you with a structured approach to work
from and build upon. Any marketing department can use this methodology to go
from a traditional or lead-gen focused marketing organisation to an accountable,
revenue-focused marketing organisation.
We’ll look at the four Revenue Pillars: Analysis, Strategy, Education and Execution
and how each of them plays a crucial role in the accomplishment of this objective.
Even though we’ve developed the methodology from a macro perspective (looking
at the overall digital marketing landscape, where we feel it can have the biggest
impact), it can just as easily be applied to specific marketing initiatives on a micro
level such as individual campaigns, launches, events or in marketing areas such
as Social Media Marketing or Search Engine Optimization.
02
“Less than 1/3
of companies
properly
calculate
marketing ROI.”
- Eloqua
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8. While each and every organisation is unique and the scope of this guide only
scratches the surface of the overall revenue marketing discussion - we hope you
will find it valuable as a reference point to build upon when your formulating your
own plans.
I’d love to hear about your results - good luck!
Sharif Khalladi
Sharif Khalladi
Founder, Complexant
02
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LET’S CONNECT
10. The CAM Methodology
Our methodology is based on four “Revenue Pillars” (Analysis,
Strategy, Education and Execution) that marketing teams must go
through to evolve into a revenue-focused marketing organisation.
On the bottom we list focus areas that come into play in each pillar.
(Note that some focus areas may be relevant to multiple pillars.)
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The circles that run through the pillars can be seen as the milestones
that they support. For example, in the analysis pillar, our milestone is
to know what works so that we can plan better. In the execution pillar,
our milestone is to achieve our envisioned results so that we can
report them back to the business.
11. 04
Less than 40% of companies use marketing analytics, yet a detailed examination
of all available data (both internal (i.e. web analytics) and external (i.e. competitive
data)) is crucial in developing a solid digital marketing strategy.
A lot of companies look at bits and pieces of data across multiple silos, for
example “search data” and “social data”.
Proper analysis consists not only of capturing data across these silo’s, but also
the proper interpretation of that data, answering the questions: “what does this
really mean?” and “what can we do next?”.
The inability to interpret this data properly leads to the lack of data use in digital
marketing efforts and thus limited results and lost opportunities.
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The First Revenue Pillar
Analysis.
12. 04
In our methodology, analysis is the starting point. We recommend looking at data
across the following areas: web and content, search, social, competitors / market
and where applicable offline channels as well.
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SEARCH DATA
SEO/SEM AGENCY
WEB DATA
+
CREATIVE AGENCY
SOCIAL DATA
+
SOCIAL AGENCY
COMPETITOR
DATA+
MARKET ANALYST
CUSTOMER DATA
=
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PULSE
13. The Second Revenue Pillar
Strategy.
05
According to recent studies, 80 percent of marketers incorrectly begin with tactics
instead of goals. Many organizations move from launch to launch and campaign to
campaign without taking the time to reflect or properly defining a digital marketing
strategy, let alone a data-driven and goal oriented strategy. We believe this is a
critical error, yet an understandable one in a marketing organisation where the
proper use of data is not yet embraced.
The digital marketing strategy should be dictated by and aimed towards
supporting the overall mission of the company, and its business goals. It should
consist of a well defined sub-set marketing objectives and the agreed upon
metrics to measure progress. The digital marketing strategy also defines the
scope, chosen execution channels, tactics and resource allocation.
It’s needless to say that the strategy builds upon the conclusions found in the
analysis pillar and should be data-driven.
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14. 06
The marketing department is not a factory that is built to execute campaigns. It’s a
community that, when it thrives, builds your brand and grows your company.
A community that is driven by employees, the most valuable asset any company
has.
Yet most organisations move from the strategy pillar straight into the execution
pillar, without investing (enough) in education.
They are not realizing how much of a limiting factor this is. It leads to the type of
scenarios where companies are “doing social” rather than “being social”, to give
an example.
This is also where challenges in adoption of certain new ideas in the business are
born as there is no true understanding of the “why”. You start hearing things like:
“why are we doing this again?” in the hall ways and at the coffee machine.
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The Third Revenue Pillar
Education.
15. 06
By educating and investing in your teams, things like adoption, engagement and
excitement become natural and the entire business thrives. Education breeds
understanding. Understanding is at the core of a healthy company culture. And
culture is a key component of any thriving community.
This is why our third revenue pillar is Education.
Educate executives so that employees have role models and are inspired top
down. Arrange for team trainings so that everyone understands the “why”.
Develop self service platforms so that employees are able to invest in themselves.
And invest in continuous upskilling so that your organisation can lead the way
instead of fall behind. Proper education leads to execution without effort.
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16. 07
All the data, the most comprehensive digital strategy and highly educated teams
won’t do your organisation any good unless there is a well oiled execution
machine in place as well.
By developing and implementing proper execution frameworks and processes and
by having the right tools and support systems in place execution becomes more
efficient and effective.
Efficiency frees up time for proper reflection and reporting and enables your
organisation to continuously optimize and improve. In our methodology, execution
is supported by data, strategy and educated teams towards the accomplishment
of properly defined business objectives.
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The Fourth Revenue Pillar
Execution.
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This guide is about remembering. About pausing for a moment and looking
at what we’re doing. To ask: “As marketers, are we truly adding value to the
business?”
You might have noticed that even though the implementation of this methodology
in your organisation is aimed towards increasing company revenues, we haven’t
spoken about revenue or specific tactics to increase revenue directly.
We don’t have to, and quite frankly, we shouldn’t.
Imagine, for a moment, that you were suffering from chest discomfort and decided
it would be wise to visit a cardiologist. Before you even sit down in her office, she
says: “Ah-ha! How about we do some endoscopic vessel harvesting, that should
sort you right out. Just follow me to the O.R. and we’ll start the procedure right
away!”
You would very likely get the hell out of there!
08
In Conclusion.
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Why is it then that so many marketers straight go into the O.R. and start “doing
stuff”? How can it be that so many marketers have no defined marketing strategy
in place? Why is it that so few marketers actually use marketing data in their
campaign efforts?
It doesn’t cease to amaze me.
Before we can discuss tactics we must have our house in order. The methodology
shared in this guide provides you with a framework to do just that. I hope it serves
as inspiration and I highly recommend you apply it to your own situation.
And when you do, let us know!
Sharif Khalladi
Sharif Khalladi
Founder, Complexant
08
19. It’s Time for a Change.
At Complexant, we help companies drive and gain
insight into the revenue contribution of marketing.
We do this through comprehensive analysis, data-
driven strategy, education and execution support
across the digital marketing landscape.
Talk to a Complexant specialist to learn how you we
can help your marketing organisation evolve to the next
level, click here to contact us today.
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20. Measuring Social Media
Four Metrics That Matter
Download your complimentary copy of “Measuring Social
Media, Four Metrics that Matter” and learn:
- What all of these fans and followers mean to the business.
- The two types of metrics that should be monitored.
- Calculating the economic value of social media efforts.
- The importance of gathering cross-channel data and
avoiding data silo’s.
Download your complimentary copy today!
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