Change Defines the New Marketing Operating Model
The mission of any organization is to continuously transform and find the best possible fit between the organization, its environment and its various internal components. Marketing, as a key connection point between brand and customer, is essential for manifesting this transformation to the outside world.
Yet, too often stale marketing operating models struggle to create meaningful connections with the right customers, largely overlooking critical elements of the customer experience and failing to examine the data that gazes into this experience.
The New Marketing Operating Model – Touched by Change
Those reimagining an improved marketing paradigm recognize the need to continuously enhance the existing model so that it serves customers, businesses and society alike. Indeed, organizational change is the engine driving a new marketing prototype. Everything from the conception, development and execution of the new model to the know-how and effort required to sustain it, is driven by change, powered by agility and focused on experiences.
At frog, we frequently partner with marketing teams to drive customer-centric transformations that help our clients realize the future. We’ve seen firsthand the potential for marketing to make profound organizational impact—and also understand the common barriers to success.
Our colleagues at Capgemini Invent have recently developed a downloadable whitepaper titled The New Marketing Operating Model – Establishing a New Standard of Consumer and Employee Experiences, exploring why marketing teams must be built for continuous change. Here’s a look at why today’s marketing operating models struggle to keep up with shifting consumer needs, and why a new, customer-centric marketing operating model is essential.
Organizations must bring teams together in an integrated approach that produces transparency and accountability, as well as reduces lead times. Cross-functional collaboration is the common denominator of successful organizations as it facilitates flexibility, ease and speed in decision-making.
Leading organizations are capable of seamlessly shifting gears, which may mean rescoping roles and KPIs as needed. The ability to adapt to changing conditions is the ability to future-proof the organization, ensuring it’s not reactive to these conditions but instead proactive, able to perfect a responsive, agile approach to changing conditions.
Today’s consumers expect more from businesses, which often means understanding their impact beyond their own organizational goals. It’s critical to establish and embrace brand values that reflect a business’ responsibility to its employees, customers, society at-large as well as a sense of duty to the planet through sustainable innovation.
Just as there are risks in failing to see the big picture in terms of social and environmental impact, it’s not enough for businesses to serve a singular mission of profit. Instead, brands must establish a clear brand purpose that motivates people to champion its existence.
A new marketing operating model built on change ensures personalized customer communications and the adoption of new sales channels. With a focus on personalization, such as with account-based marketing, companies are better prepared to better empathize with customer pain points and address accordingly.
What consumers want is in a constant state of flux. It’s not enough to hope your customer wants your product or service, but to instead proactively react to evolving consumer trends. It’s mission-critical to use data to inform this understanding.
A new marketing standard requires a shift away from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach that enables real-time omnichannel engagement, while using customer data and advanced analytics to provide personalized solutions and experiences to customers. Ensure consolidated, accessible data. Use data analytics, automation, collection, science.
It’s too easy for established companies to get stuck in their ways, simultaneously losing appetite for innovation. Achieving organizational transformation means incorporating new capabilities and a culture of experimentation.
CMOs and marketing executives need to be singularly obsessed with elevating customer loyalty through continuous improvement to the customer experience, combined with a data-driven, agile approach to achieve gains.
The Must-haves That Power the New Marketing Operating Model
In 2015 Gartner warned the “customer experience is the new competitive battlefield.” This holds true today. The link between profitability and the customer experience is supported by a Forrester study that found the revenue growth of CX leaders is 4.4 times that of laggards. Studies consistently connect favorable outcomes to organizations that pursue excellence at every step on the customer journey.
Marketers and change agents at leading organizations are making their mark by deploying new marketing models supported by excellence in three areas: customer experience, agility and data. To realize a sustainable model that drives business strategy, organizations have to transform. Cultures have to change. Marketing must be elevated to its position as a dominant organizational function.
frog’s Approach to Adopting the New Marketing Operating Model
frog’s phased approach consists of the following steps:
Phase I (Pre-Design) – Refine team alignment strategies and clearly communicate new frameworks to teams.
Phase II (Design) – Develop design principles to guide a new marketing operating model that’s right for your business.
Phase III (Pilot) – Support in the implementation of the new operating model and advise on its future refinement and assessment.
Download The New Marketing Operating Model – Establishing a New Standard of Consumer and Employee Experiences whitepaper from our colleagues at Capgemini Invent to learn more about fostering customer trust and meeting the rising demand for customer-centric marketing design.
Laverne is an experienced content developer and strategist. She brings an expert understanding of what audiences demand in their messaging and crafts high-quality, strategically sound copy that supports organizations’ brands. Laverne weaves key messages into appropriate communication channels, ensuring synergy between the business and the audience and delivers this content across a broad range of media.
As an Editorial Manager at frog, Laverne is passionate about helping frog elevate its brand by generating content that connects audiences to strategic goals.
Romain Fontaine is a manager at frog in New York city. After having supported marketing organizations with a broad range of transformation projects, both in Europe and in the United States, he has specialized in helping his clients to transform and reinvent their marketing operating models. From the design to the implementation, he has helped several CPG and beauty brands to redefine their organizational structure, their processes and their ways of working to embrace this new vision of marketing and achieve their ambition.
We respect your privacy
We use Cookies to improve your experience on our website. They help us to improve site performance, present you relevant advertising and enable you to share content in social media. You may accept all Cookies, or choose to manage them individually. You can change your settings at any time by clicking Cookie Settings available in the footer of every page. For more information related to the Cookies, please visit our Cookie Policy.