CMOS's: How to avoid being fired after poor marketing performance

As we approach the end of the year, many of us will be reviewing the last years results and/or planning for next year. For many #CMO & #marketingandadvertising directors out there this may mean that their appraisals are around the corner too.

Having gone through uncertain times & unstable market conditions, for many of us this means presenting poor results or uncertain growth plans.

Whilst circumstances are out of your control, boards tire of excuses quickly. If we are in uncertain times often boards will choose to reduce budgets, keep things ticking over & wait for better market conditions.

As marketers it is our job to paint the picture of what a world without marketing looks like. We need to explain why our efforts, however fruitless saved the company from poorer scenarios - how bad would things have been without steps we have taken. Or in the case planning for growth the impact that no marketing spend will have on the longevity of the company.

Most importantly, when talking to the board, we need to combine the data & results that we have collected with a strategy which will achieve the companies long term objectives.

Here are a few examples where we ( Fusion Analytics UK ) have (or haven't) achieved this:

When the campaign all went wrong

We all are told of the importance of curating customer journeys, and how that will increase brand loyalty & therefore sales.

One brand did just that, and working with two agencies, implemented some great content across multiple countries. Their goal was to show that this caused a 7 figure uplift in revenue to justify continued investment.

However, the brand & agencies knew that things were a bit of a mess; and therefore we ( Fusion Analytics UK ) were asked to review things.

We found:

1. The control cells had accidentally been given additional content
2. Current reports were incorrectly defined
3. Around 70-90% of the people in the journeys had been given the wrong communication (for a variety of reasons)

With these in mind, we had to consider how to convince senior stakeholders to continue to invest in the campaigns. These are the arguments that we used to achieve this:

Not wanting to go backwards

Having invested so far and promoted the sophisticated approach - did we want to reduce that client experience?

We have a handle on the situation

It was important not to hide the range of mistakes & challenges that we face. 90% of people in total didn't get the right comms; it came down to around 20-30 different things not working.

Often these were simple tasks, or too tight business rules that needed a bit of relaxing. It also wasn't usually down to just one person; but lots of little things that added up.

Things will get better

This is where we ( Fusion Analytics UK ) really come into our own, having found the mistakes in the first place, we could paint a picture of "what would have happened".

In this instance the 10% that did get the right content did show the uplift required to meet the target. We could then extrapolate this as pressure test it - to ensure we would meet the next years target.

The result: The clients senior team had a clear understand of where we are, and had confidence in the team over the next financial year - budget (and bonuses) were secured.

The wrong business model

Working with a start up isn't all fun and games. Often the founder can have a clear vision of what they want; but are then inflexible to the realities of the real world.

In one case we were working with a content based start up, and there were a few challenges with the business & specifically the acquisition model:

Having initially tested acquiring people via Facebook, getting them to go the website and sign up to a free trial. The founder noticed that a large proportion of people would click the link, get to the website & not sign up.

So instead, the founder decided that people should give their email on Facebook and be added to a pre-trial - where they get some content before their free trial & fully signing up,

Needless to say that whilst the cost per email was low & very affordable; having collected many thousand emails only 2 people actually sign up for the next step - another free trial. It would have taken around 100 years of subscriptions to cover that cost!

Whilst the initial approach was more costly to obtain a lead, it had a much more acceptable CPA, with more people going to become subscribers, (taking just a few months to cover cost).

Sadly, this was an example where no much could be done. The company went through a number of consultants & senior marketing directors; however they just weren't listened to and were let go one by one.

In instances like this, consensus is the only way forward, one person - even a senior person - cannot achieve change on their own. Good luck!

When we have done everything right, but still not growing

What if I told you one piece of insight could make or break your growth plans?

Normally, this isn't the case. Typically poor performance or a growth target is down to a range of challenges that need to be sorted one buy one. For example, a client implementing a new ESP (email service provider) may find an x3 return on investment; but that won't come from 1 email it will likely be a range of campaign adjustments enabled by the technology.

However, sometimes it can be.

Often companies have an overall growth plan or strategy. This usually assumes a certain customer profile. The trouble is as we scale we may find:

1. Actually the profile we initially thought we had was wrong
2. We run out of people who fit that profile; it is cheaper to get other profiles
3. We recruit a different profile of people than expected and it impact LTV
4. Micro trends, like more women buy mens clothes (as gifts) than men (for themselves)

In case like this we can use data to help explain what has happened and identify the strategy to change.

For example, we worked with an insurer that was struggling to hit their growth targets. After reviewing their enquiry data we found that they had almost exhausted one of their key segments; i.e. there were no more people of that type in the market.

By adjusting their incremental spend to target new segments, we could unlock the growth potential in the business.

Result:

After presenting the board with a detailed view of the marketing plan, we could conclude & convince them that additional investment was needed to target new segments.

What should we do when it looks like the whole market is crashing!

With tough economic times ahead, to some extent we are all in the same boat, and much of our growth plans are out of our hands: We can convince someone in the market to buy our product - but it is harder to convince someone not in the market to buy at all.

The best approach to presenting bad news like this is to provide options. You need to be clear with what are the realms of the possible and what is required to get there.

These options also need to be presented as "how does the business want to face these challenges", and consider:

1. What do we need to do to survive the short term; and what can we control
2. What state do we want to be in by when the market turns around
3. What is the true cost of short term initiatives (i.e. like discount)
4. Which KPIs can we meet (i.e. we can meet revenue, but not within budget)

Whilst you may have initially being charged to meet a certain revenue target, this year. It may not be in the best long-term interest of the company.

A good example of this is discounting. Discounts can often generate additional sales and revenue; however too much can devalue the brand reducing long term growth prospects.

So, the scenarios you produce should say:

1. We can meet this years target, but we will reduce the brand value by ￡xm in 3 years time
2. Or we can reduce this years target by Y% and hit target in 3 years
3. Or we need additional budget to try a new strategy and meet the sales revenue target

Whilst it is not what they want to hear, if it is a well structured & detailed report with clear reasoning, the board will usually take this and build an investment case around it: Can they take the short term hit in revenue and raise investment on the basis for a stronger business in 3 years time?

Remember, it is not your job to create miracles; it is help create and deliver the strategy best for the business.

Fusion Analytics UK is a data consultancy, that specialises in customer analytics & marketing effectiveness. Our recommendations have been used to; secure additional investment, forecast product sales, optimise budgets, align departments & how they plan.

Please get in touch to me Howard Thompson or comment on my post to find out how we can help you!