By: Tom Swanson, Senior Engagement Manager at Heinz Marketing
Marketing is not generally known for consistency. It is a philosophical struggle for me, and I grapple with it on a daily basis. I love the concrete: science, math, operations. Yet in marketing, I find often find myself dealing with systems that are difficult or impossible to quantify. Marketing orchestration provides some answers.
What is a marketer to do?
We try to create consistency where we can. Marketing orchestration is a great spot to start to find where and how you can build predictable uniformity wherever possible.
If this is your first time with the concept, here are some posts about it:
- What is marketing orchestration and why it matters
- B2B Excellence through marketing orchestration
- How to tell when it’s time to improve your marketing orchestration
Questions are the natural reaction when I start prattling on about workflows (either that or leaving me talking to an empty room). CMOs tend to ask the most, since they really need to own how the whole marketing machine functions to drive revenue.
So what do CMOs ask most often, what are the answers we give them?
Great question let’s get into it.
Question 1: Are we over-engineering this?
The short answer:
Yes at first, but simplicity comes after.
The long answer:
Oliver Wendell Holmes said “For simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give a fig. But for simplicity on the other side of complexity, I would give everything I have.” Thanks for that, Alex, if you read these posts. It still sticks with me.
When going through orchestration, it is important to get an understanding of the inherent complexity of an integrated GTM process. Each team has different strengths and weaknesses, executive communication needs, and other nuances. There is no one-size-fits-all.
Our first iterations of workflows are complex, but we also draw up a simple version. Then we begin the process of understanding and isolating critical paths. We ensure that input is given when it is needed, not before and certainly not after.
So is it over-engineered? Yes, we start with that. But it is crucial to have a full picture before you start cutting. You cannot know when threads are attached to which until you have mapped it, and cutting the wrong thread destroys the sweater.
Question 2: How long does it take to get to a usable GTM workflow?
The short answer:
About 4.5 months.
The long answer:
This really depends. The size of the team is important, but it really the overall number of GTM motions the team is expected to execute. If you are trying to run simultaneous PLG, ABM, and mid-market motions, the timeframe expands.
What really balloons it up is when each of those motions draw from the same resources. Then the questions shift from actions to priorities. Nobody except Marketing Ops likes to have the prioritization discussion. However, when finite resource exhaustion is the symptom, poor prioritization is the disease.
The point of all of this is that it can take anywhere from 3-6 months to get to a strong, established, streamlined workflow. I could in and tell you this is easy, just use my framework. You will fail because the nuance of executing is in how the framework connects to your team.
Good work takes time.
Question 3: How do we ensure adoption?
The short answer:
Invest in change management and testing
The long answer:
Change management isn’t easy. Implementing a workflow is a big change. There are a lot of different reasons that teams fail at this stage. Here are a few I have seen first-hand (and successfully dealt with):
- Nobody trusts leadership because of past failures
- Change fatigue (too much too fast)
- Communication that disappears after workflow launch
- Inadequate organizational readiness
- Cultural clashes among c-level leaders
- Recent layoffs
- All new teams
- Nonexistent boundaries
This stuff isn’t rocket science. It is easy to see why these issues would cause challenges for folks looking to rework their orchestration. Each of them is solved through effective change management. In my opinion, this is the most important part of implementing any new marketing processes.
The second part of this is testing, which should be part of your change management plan.
Question 4: What are the most common missing pieces in orchestrating a process?
The short answer:
Project managers
The long answer:
Hire more project managers. When it comes to any marketing process, this is the most commonly missing piece. A good project manager not only brings consistency, but also optimizes processes. No PM, no process.
Project managers. Project managers. Project managers. Legend has it if you look in the mirror and say it 3 times, someone will come and make sure your campaigns get launched.
Jokes aside, this role is crucially important. If you aren’t willing or able to hire a PM specifically, then find someone on your team who can learn the skills. They aren’t all that complicated, but you want someone who indexes on diligence and consistency. Someone who reliably hits deadlines and is good at communicating when things are bumpy.
Other missing pieces:
- Clear accountability
- Depending on the project or how you structure things, this can be one person (this is the best) or several.
- Clear hand-offs between planning and execution teams
- Clear boundaries between teams
- Clear breakpoints for when something is “done”
- Clear recourse for when changes are needed beyond what the workflow can accommodate
In general, clarity is the other missing piece. Related to the above, a PM can really help here, too.
Question 5: How do we know if it works?
The short answer:
People stop quitting
The long answer:
Every team is different, and defines success in a different way. Some teams want consistent SLAs. Others want predictable workloads. Others still want more collaboration across functions. Most want all of this.
What your success metrics are should define how and why you take up this effort to begin with. However, there is one universal metric that is a good indicator of a strong process: employee turnover.
To go all the way back: people love consistency. Consistency lets folks work in the way they want. Creatives can be creative, strategists can think big thoughts in their fancy chairs, and the MOPs folks can make clear cases about what tools are BS and what tools are indispensable.
The boundaries and consistency created by a strong process held by all allow people to operate at the peak of their abilities. When people reach this level, turnover drops.
The biggest sign you need orchestration is turnover. The biggest sign your orchestration is great is that people want to work at your company.
Conclusion
Orchestration is hard. It takes time, effort, and some sacrifice.
These are some of the most common questions we get from CMOs. There are no easy answers, except for one: hire more PMs.
If you want to chat about any of these, or anything in this post, please reach out: acceleration@heinzmarketing.com
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