How Senior Management Should Engage With The Marketing Department
By Bill King
<p>When was the last time you as a senior executive evaluated your Company’s marketing performance? I’m not talking about sales performance and hitting numbers. Let’s strip that out for now. I’m talking about how your Company markets itself.</p> <p>Many Presidents and CEOs in the water market are engineers who have built up their companies through invention and leave marketing alone to those who “know how to do that.” Others specialize in the nuances of taking a Company public or M&A activity. Most have their hands full working through operational challenges, employee retention, rep network issues and regulatory hurdles. It’s easy to overlook your marketing efforts or compartmentalize them into tradeshows, ads, product/service bundles, rep incentives etc … and leave the administration of marketing to specialists.</p> <p>However, in the age of globalization where it has become harder and harder to separate your Company from the competition through operational excellence, product leadership or superior negotiation skills, positioning your Company through a strong marketing strategy is arguably the most cost-effective and productive activity to engage in today.</p> <p> I think secretly many senior executives aren’t sure how to engage with the marketing department. It’s often such a large step away from what they are engaged in on a daily basis. I’d suggest you get close to your marketers at least twice a year. You don’t need to get too far into the weeds. In fact, you’re better served to stay above the fray. But you can play an important role in making sure your marketing team is operating in line with your current corporate strategy.</p> <p>Here are a few pointers for you in preparing for your newly-minted semi-annual marketing strategy meeting:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;">1. What Do You Stand For?</p> <p>Water and wastewater equipment marketing often falls into the trap of positioning the company’s products and services against those of the competition. As the President, you can provide a unique personal perspective. You see your Company at a far deeper level than your latest flow meter, actuator valve or submersible wastewater pump. Showing your marketers what you and your Company stand for is an important step in helping them integrate a deeper brand identity into your marketing collateral.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;">2.Who Do You Serve?</p> <p>As I mentioned earlier, marketers can get hyper-focused on what products and services they’re promoting in your tradeshow booth or putting in a supplement to an upcoming publication. As they discuss which products and where, you should continue to redirect them to address what your products and services can do for your customers which will create far more compelling marketing content. Tasking your marketers to understand your customers’ motivations, beliefs and behaviors in the water and wastewater industry will create far more powerful marketing plans.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;">3. What Are Our Competitors Doing?</p> <p>The water and wastewater industry is a close knit world. Through associations, past positions and partnerships, you’ve no doubt developed what used to be called a robust “Rolodex” of who’s who in the industry. And no doubt you’ve got a good idea of who you’re personally competing with and what makes them tick. Your marketing department would benefit tremendously from your perspective on your competitors. Specifically sharing what you consider to be their strengths, vulnerabilities and how they threaten your business can arm your marketers with the information to be far more effective.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;">4. Who’s on board?</p> <p>Using your status as Company President to make other members of senior management available to the marketing team is perhaps the most valuable thing that you can bring to the meeting. In today’s connected world, some of the best ways to brand your Company is to utilize the expertise of your people and define them as thought leaders. Marketing can help you do this but only if they get buy-in from others in the Company. Too often a lead engineer or product manager is too busy to give marketing a short interview to help them produce better collateral. By engaging with your marketers, you will set the example for others in your organization to follow.</p>