Why Your Business Should Be ‘Marketing First’

Why Your Business Should Be ‘Marketing First’

Of course leads are important, but now that customer experience is in the spotlight, too, marketing departments must do much more than just enable sales teams to do their job. A marketing-first approach to business ensures that the products and services the company offers are relevant to the marketplace. Through components like brand-building and brand positioning (both internally and externally), the best marketing-first companies create personas that do not just supplement their business goals but drive their competitiveness and success. This gives the company a better chance to be seen, heard and accepted by end users, naturally increasing sales through stronger brand recall and visibility. When our leadership adopts that priority, other teams follow suit. Start the conversation with marketing to define where you want to see your company going; then get to the list of must-dos that make most business sense. And the best-case scenario is, of course, when business departments fund the entire marketing effort -- and this happens only when businesses recognize marketing as their driving force! Mapping stakeholders ensures that every move the company makes does something to better stakeholder relationships. Focus on the priorities of each group both now and in the long term. These maps are about more than selling -- they’re about changing conversations.

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Chances are, your marketing department isn’t in your company’s driver’s seat. Here’s why it should be.

Why Your Business Should Be 'Marketing First'

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Most organizations understand that marketing is important, but few adopt a holistic approach to recognize marketing as their top priority.

According to the 2018 B2B Marketing Mix report from Sagefrog, 67 percent of companies surveyed named lead generation as their top marketing objective. Of course leads are important, but now that customer experience is in the spotlight, too, marketing departments must do much more than just enable sales teams to do their job.

Good marketers, in fact, understand what end users want, how a company’s solutions meet those needs and how to communicate that relationship effectively. A marketing-first approach to business ensures that the products and services the company offers are relevant to the marketplace. Through components like brand-building and brand positioning (both internally and externally), the best marketing-first companies create personas that do not just supplement their business goals but drive their competitiveness and success.

Marketing, more than any other department, has the power to stitch together offerings from across the organization to provide a comprehensive view of problems and solutions. It’s not about one group versus another — it’s about finding the overarching view and positioning that incorporate all perspectives. Marketing-first organizations are more able to resolve intra-business roadblocks and focus on outcomes that matter to the customer.

The goal of a marketing-first approach is not to inhibit other stakeholders by steering the conversation toward sales. Although this approach does aim to increase revenue and pipeline, the mechanism is led more by influence than sales. This gives the company a better chance to be seen, heard and accepted by end users, naturally increasing sales through stronger brand recall and visibility.

To implement a marketing-first approach, follow these three tips:

1. Employ a top-down approach — at first.

Despite the advantages of a marketing-first mindset, only 8 percent of CEOs see marketing as a top priority this year, according to a Gartner study.

As with most initiatives, a marketing-first approach starts with buy-in from senior leadership. Leaders must make the prioritization of marketing a mindset that permeates the entire organization. This change won’t occur overnight, but when leaders are deliberate in their adoption of the philosophy, the benefits begin to reveal themselves.

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At our company, we ask that every time a sales/business development team meets a customer, it contacts Marketing first. The marketing department sees the whole picture and knows how to position the messaging we want to use to describe ourselves and our services. When our leadership adopts that priority, other teams follow suit.

As companies become more sensitive to their reputations in the market, their focus must shift from internal-centric messaging, which highlights capabilities, to external outreach, which champions value. This perspective cannot arise from…

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