By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer
In a recent INC. magazine article by Garrett Moonco, founder and CEO of CoSchedule, he referenced research his team conducted among 1,500 or so marketing professionals about what makes them successful. His conclusion was that there are four consistent traits that characterize successful marketers:
1. Marketing strategy documentation
The study found that marketers who document their marketing strategy are 538 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t. Given that the marketing strategy is the guide for decision-making, prioritization, and the proper mix of ingredients, top marketers have a clear sense of where they are going and how they need to get there. They have a better chance for success.
2. Marketing process documentation
Marketers who document their process are 466 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t, too. A clearly documented marketing process codifies reliable and reusable workflows that can become the roadmap for creating successful outcomes on an ongoing basis.
While it is easy for marketing teams to fall into the rule of missed deadlines and fire drills, process definition and clarity reduce wasted time and provide focus on goals.
3. Establishing goals
Unsurprisingly, the study found that marketers who set goals are 429 percent more likely to report success than those who don’t.
A team with common objectives is unified. A focus on the goals even enhances a team’s ability to adjust course more quickly if objectives are missed. And, team-set goals ensure team buy-in if obstacles arise.
Moonco suggests marketers keep goals simple since the sheer number of digital metrics alone can overwhelm. He suggests finding the metric that has the potential to make the biggest impact on success.
4. Conducting customer research
Finally, the study found that successful marketers are 242 percent more likely to conduct customer research at least once per quarter. As a result, they have a better understanding of their customers and can take action sooner to improve their efforts on a continual basis.
Beyond customer demographics and buyer personas, dig into what influences customer behavior. Here are some questions to consider:
• What prompted you to start looking for a solution like (our product)?
• Why did you choose (our product)?
• What is the most significant difference (our product) is making in your business today?
• How would you (briefly) describe (our product) to someone else?
• What is the single greatest benefit (our product) provides?
• What would happen if your team started doing 10 customers calls per month?
The CoSchedule study provides significant percentage differences between successful marketing teams and those who are not. The good news, however, is that the anyone can apply these four steps to make their efforts more successful as well.
Please free to contact me with questions or comments about Anna’s article or any other fleet marketing topics at [email protected].
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