Case Story: Information Leadership.
Create a Marketing Machine
A repeatable approach to marketing.
Highlights
Aligning marketing with business strategy
Clarity of the appropriate marketing activity to bring the best value
A ‘marketing machine’ was developed that worked for Information Leadership (systems & processes)
Marketing activity increased
Sales team was supported
The Client
Information Leadership is an award-winning, privately owned IT services company
Founded in 2004, they have a team of >60, with offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch & Dunedin, serving clients across New Zealand
They implement digital workspaces using Microsoft 365 and Teams
Their passion is to help organisations ‘work better’
The Challenge
Information Leadership are a successful organisation; the engagement aimed to 'super-charge' what they were already doing
They were doing some marketing, but activity was ad hoc, had no plan and was not linked to the business strategy
They had no-one dedicated to marketing and so activity was being "squeezed" in when people in the team had time (which they often didn't)
They were unsure if they needed a dedicated marketing person or not, what this might look like, or the value it could bring (or not)
They specifically wanted help around brand building; profile raising in the market and support for sales activity
The organisation had been so busy responding to new leads that little time and attention had been given to developing relationships & opportunities with existing customers - they wanted to start "fishing at their own feet"
The directors also recognised that this work would help from an employment branding perspective, supporting team culture and focus
What We Did
I joined Information Leadership on a part-time basis for 3 months to act as a "Virtual Chief Marketing Officer" (vCMO)
I identified key players internally and worked with them to form the “marketing team”
We agreed on our value proposition messaging which got rolled out across all marketing channels and internally
We identified & prioritised target customer segments& developed customer-focused messaging
We identified priorities and created a marketing activity plan to get some regular marketing going
The concept of ‘campaign management’ was introduced to increase the impact of marketing activity
I worked with one of the consultants to run a “Growth Trial” - developing a consultative sales approach to growing existing customers. This included tiering customers, providing a framework for engagements, marketing input to messaging & identifying a process to measure success
Governance systems & processes were established - including standups and fortnightly Marketing Group Meetings, to ensure a cadence of activity and establish a discipline of forward planning, prioritising and reviewing metrics.
Results - Outcomes
This engagement gave IL a better perspective on the range of marketing activities and how to bring them together to deliver the greatest value
They now understand how to choose and deliver the right marketing tactics, driven by strategy
Having a "virtual" CMO enabled the directors to test what marketing approach they needed in a cost-effective way; benefiting from having the insights of a senior marketer, prior to making a long-term commitment to an approach
Marketing requirements were identified - they saw what could be achieved with dedicated time and resource and have now recruited a permanent full-time marketer
A marketing strategy was developed, aligning with the business objectives; OKRs (objectives & key results) are now being developed
The ‘marketing machine’ - an "Information Leadership approach" was developed, including messaging, content and a plan, with systems and processes which are replicable
Marketing activity - the volume increased, became more regular and had consistent messaging
Bringing together individuals, who were each doing an element of marketing, to form a 'marketing team' gave direction, confidence & support
The Growth Trial was successfully implemented, with good early results, including sales, team engagement and customer feedback.
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