We are approaching the end of third quarter and for most, the start of the budget planning cycle. While senior management knows the revenue and, hopefully, profit numbers for the company, how many know the marketing numbers? We, as people, love to talk, talk, talk about our kids, pets, vacations, holiday preparations and, as we get older, our ailments. However, it is hard to find marketers who consistently communicate their department’s successes and, more importantly, their failures to senior management and the company at large. This failure to communicate doesn’t help the perception that marketing is a closed unit that operates in its own world. This lack of communication particularly hurts marketing when departments start negotiating for budget dollars. I’ve been in my share of those negotiations and can vouch for the importance of communication.

If you don’t regularly communicate marketing program results, there isn’t a better time to start. Schedule a meeting and prepare a presentation that details 2008 programs and report on success and failures. Spend time discussing why some programs under-performed and what steps you took to correct the problems. Share lessons learned. Make sure you detail why you selected the programs, who was the audience, response rate and, if possible, closed loop analysis. Each program should be listed by the percentage of budget. In addition, make sure you have visual aids. Bring copies of each program so the group can see the entire campaign. Furthermore, you should prepare bound copies, separated by categories, for each meeting attendee of all ads, direct mail, email, tradeshow programs, etc.

Now you have handled the past, leaving you to deal with the present and future. You will need to continue to keep communicating to not only senior management but also the entire company. If quarterly company-wide meetings can’t be held due to field offices, virtual employees and/or international divisions, start a quarterly newsletter that discusses campaigns currently running, including graphics, success rate, audiences, etc. Explain upcoming programs that will be launched during the next quarter and the purpose of the campaigns. Include a Q&A section where you can address questions you received from informal or formal discussions within the company. In addition, profile upcoming product launches, tradeshows, company milestones and any other significant events.

You may be shaking your head as you read this. Your thoughts may be that this is too much additional work to take on but you will be surprised at the results. The additional work isn’t too much and it is required if you want to ensure marketing continues to get the respect it deserves. One of marketing’s main purpose is communication-take the time now to start the process. You are communicating to external audiences, time to focus on internal audiences. Let’s starting talking.

Posted: Monday, September 10th, 2007 | Technology Marketing
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