VIEW AS PDF What makes one marketing initiative more successful than another? I believe that it’s the planning you do on the front end, particularly with the large-scale, game-changing initiatives that can make or break success. It’s the planning that happens right from the moment you see or feel the need to introduce something new or different. It’s clearly an art and a science. Earlier this year, we helped a client launch a major marketing initiative. It changed the way the company thought about marketing and affected thousands of people across the globe. We spent more than a year planning and preparing for this launch. When the launch finally arrived, it seemed like an eternity since we had first talked. We did a lot right in preparing for this launch, and we also learned things along the way that we’ll incorporate into our future planning. Consider these guiding principles on your next big initiative. Look at the big picture You may have a hunch that some part of your marketing needs to change. Before you start the process of figuring it out, do your due diligence. • Benchmark the best-in-class companies and analyze their strategies and methods. • Get to know your customers better. Look at existing research or conduct new research to get a perspective of how they feel about your company. You have to understand their needs, know what needs you fill, and identify the gaps. • Talk to the people who will be affected, your stakeholders. Get a sense of how they feel, what their needs and pain points are today. Look at the situation from their perspectives. Organize your thoughts Once you have your background information, formulate your thoughts. You need to be able to: • Articulate to people at different levels why change is needed. • Share your vision for the future. • Outline in detail what the effect will be on each stakeholder group, the company, your employees, and your customers. • Share how you will measure the results. If you are going to turn their world upside down, be sure you can explain why the change is needed and how the current situation will improve. Back up your position with specific, logical, fact-based information. Have a clearly defined point of view; if you struggle with this, so will your audience. Identify your key stakeholders and gather support This can be the difficult step, but it’s one that can’t be ignored and should be handled very early in the development cycle. From my experience, the more people are involved, and the more they feel they can give input, the more likely they are to be supportive. Share your thinking. Your stakeholders may not be as close to the initiative as you are, so be as specific as you can. Back up your point of view with solid facts, share your vision, and explain what success will mean to the stakeholder and to the company. Listen, understand their perspective, and determine where adjustments are needed. At this make-or-break step in the process, remember…it isn’t the time to take things personally. Be authentic in your approach. Accept the fact that you may not agree on everything, and always keep your emotions in check. Know where you can bend and still meet your ultimate objectives. Stay in continuous communication with your stakeholders. Consider regularly scheduled meetings to provide updates and get feedback. If you think there will be a lot of discussion on a subject, don’t rely on e-mail to communicate; get face-to-face. If you don’t know an answer, ask for time to explore. It’s important to maintain credibility. In the work we do with our clients, we frequently collaborate with multiple agencies. While some agencies see this as a challenge, we see it as an opportunity to learn from others. I call this “playing nice in the sandbox,” but it is really much more. It’s about bringing your strengths to the table and working together to achieve greater success. Gaining internal support from key stakeholders is the same thing. Train and communicate Begin planning your training programs while you are still defining the marketing initiative. Consider ways you can build momentum for the launch. Communicate early what your plans are for training and continue to communicate frequently. Tailor the training to the audience. Some groups may need just a topline overview of what’s to come, while others may need all the details. Avoid mixing the two groups. You want people to know that you’ve listened, you’re meeting their specific needs, and you have a plan, a vision for the future. Validate the importance by creating a memorable event for your audiences. Break the primary message down into small parts to make it easy for people to remember and repeat. We developed a tool that allows us to share information with all channel owners. They use the information as a foundation for creating materials specific to their audiences. By doing this, we empowered our stakeholders to be involved, and we don’t feel compelled to be an expert in all areas. The more advocates you have in your court, the stronger your rally cry will be and the greater the chance of achieving success. Plan for ongoing training; a single event won’t suffice. Consider ways that you can communicate frequently for several months to sustain momentum, then scale back as appropriate. Maybe you’ll need to address pain points that are realized along the way or redirects based on internal and external feedback. Experience has taught me that just when I think people are getting tired of hearing the same thing repeatedly, most are just starting to understand the message. Realistically, you’ll never win everyone over. You can try, but you will be disappointed. For years I thought I needed to, and could make everyone happy. I was often disappointed and felt I had failed. Some folks just don’t like change; they like the status quo. Others are cynics. Concentrate on the masses, and you will achieve success. And in the end, many of those who were reluctant will join in. Launch…but be ready to adjust Even if you have taken all the right steps to achieve success, you may need to adjust your marketing. What’s important is that you stay focused on your ultimate goal. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments once you launch. It’s OK; listen and learn from the experience and move on. Following the launch I alluded to earlier, a few questions began to surface. At first, emails were flying back and forth, neither group was completely happy, and both groups felt like the other wasn’t listening. After a few days of the back-and-forth, schedules aligned, and we all got together in the same room at the same time. What happened? Face-to-face, we quickly resolved the major issues and angels started to sing. Yes, we made some adjustments, but we listened to each other’s needs and found a middle ground that worked for both groups. Remarkable? Not really. It just took everyone stopping for a minute, listening to one another, and coming to an understanding. In the end, enjoy your success—your team’s success. Throughout the development cycle, but especially at the end, it is important to recognize the individuals and teams that made it happen. Showcase the work that the team and others do. Celebrate the accomplishments, big and small. People like to know that a cause they support is successful. As marketers, we all want every initiative to be 100 percent correct from the start. Of course, that won’t happen. Don’t be afraid to make the necessary adjustments; be willing to accept good attempts at first. If you have gone down the right path, more and more improvements will occur naturally over time. You can’t just think about your marketing initiative in a box. You must consider how it affects the key stakeholders, the company, the employees, and your customers. Be sure to look at situations from others’ perspectives, to listen, to communicate, and to share the news of the successes and the adjustments. Remember, scale drives complexity, and complexity drives planning. With the right planning, you can achieve greater success. About the author Tina is Principal/Executive Vice President and a member of Oden’s leadership team. She is responsible for Oden’s marketing and account service and serves as senior leader in business development. Tina is a seasoned, strategic resource providing significant direction to both Oden clients and Oden teams. For comments or questions about this article or for additional information on Oden, contact Tina at tniclosi@oden.com or @TinaNiclosi on Twitter. Did you get this article from a friend? To get your own copy next time, join our e-mail list. © 2011 ODEN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 119 South Main  |  Suite 300  |  Memphis, TN 38103  |  901.578.8055  |  800.371.6233  |  oden.com