Choose your own Adventure(s): Executing a Customer-led Marketing Strategy – ALIGNMENT
March 2, 2023
ALIGNMENT
Then: It’s not about what you know, it’s who you know.
Now: It’s not about who you know, but to whom you are aligned.
During the years I focused solely on customer advocacy, I sat within five different areas of the business. The worst spot? Operations & Technology – yeah, I didn’t get it either. The best spot? Customer Success (thank you, Jeffrey Rachlin).
In more robust customer marketing roles, I found myself struggling to please multiple masters and having to change my approach depending on who sat in a meeting. It was exhausting and honestly, a waste of my time and energy.
I exist to do two things: 1) create and maintain an exceptional customer experience; and 2) drive revenue for the business.
When I moved into my role leading marketing, I decided to ask for something I always wanted. Go big or go home, right? I asked our CEO, Russell Rothstein, if marketing could sit inside the revenue team (sales, customer success, operations) led by powerhouse, Amanda Silverstein. I had a long list of reasons why it made business sense and was prepared to make the business case. I got there by asking and answering a few basic questions.
Ensuring Strategic Alignment
❓ What area of the business most influences my KPIs?
❓With what area of the business do I share KPIs?
❓Who in the business do I collaborate with regularly?
❓What parts of the business might I risk duplicating efforts?
❓Who funds my budget?
❓Who are my primary internal stakeholders?
So now, for the first time in my career, I sit where I can not only make the most impact, but I am organizationally aligned to the people I support and the people that support me. A parallel line is drawn from myself to our heads of sales and customer success – powerhouses in their own right, Daniel Mitchell and Gershon Rossman.
And now we can focus on three primary elements that I believe are the cornerstone to alignment success:
🌎 Culture
✍ Communication
🤝 Collaboration
We share goals so we’re empowered to collaborate, communicate often, and build shared processes focused on meeting customer needs, driving growth, and creating value. And because of this alignment, we can be agile, respond quickly to change and customer needs, and innovate more easily.
Alignment – it’s worth the fight.
Want to keep following the journey? Follow me on LinkedIn for all kinds of information, resources, and observations around customer-led marketing (and the occasional pet, kid, or vacation photo): https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-a-bukowski
Note: Today’s adventure photo is of my daughter at a recent fencing tournament – which is also where I will be spending this weekend. Focus and alignment are key to this sport, I am learning, so why not make it a business analogy?
