The common good: How goal-oriented marketing can transform your brand

Q4 is here and if you’re in marketing, you’re probably deep into planning for the year ahead. And if you have an agency partner, they’re right there with you—or at least they should be. That begs the question: do you know how your agency partner is preparing your brand for the year ahead?

What are your business goals?

As you move forward with planning, ask yourself: Does my agency know what our business goals are for 2024? Do they know what our key performance indicators (KPIs) are and if they differ from the KPIs our CEO is focused on? Have I shared these essential details with them? If not, the time is now. Your success hinges on it, and ultimately, so does the success of the business. Set yourself up properly.

A goal-oriented marketing partner will know how to support you in this strategic endeavor and is the difference in having a tactical partner and a transformational adviser. Your role is to share what matters most to the business at the onset of planning. Here’s a short list:

• What is the focus of revenue for the next 1-3 years?
• What are the revenue channels and how do you prioritize those that matter?
• Are there any new audience insights that are driving category growth?

Disclosing these pertinent details up front will ensure you’re measuring and tracking what matters, drive results towards the bottom line, and mitigate rework. Not to mention it also positions you to better plan for the future and better manage environmental or economical impediments (COVID anyone?) Check out this reference on how to brief your marketing team for more insights.

Here’s an example of a DS+CO integrated paid media campaign for the State University of New York at Brockport that shows the impact clarity can have when the marketing and business goals are shared between the client and the agency.

Are your marketing efforts laddering up to your business goals?

According to The Economist, the No. 1 priority for CMOs is growth/revenue. Whether your business is focused on innovation, market expansion, increasing customer loyalty, or something entirely different, your marketing efforts should be working to achieve the business objectives, not independent ventures.

Remi Kent, CMO of Progressive Insurance said at Cannes Lions this year that CMOs are increasingly being charged with driving growth (and identifying untapped opportunities within the organization). Kent highlighted the importance of becoming the CEO’s “chief growth officer” to lead the company towards new avenues of success.

Finding that balance between efficiency and innovation poses many challenges, but it’s a conversation worth having. (For our take on the matter, check out our DS+CO Roundtable.)

Revenue-driven marketing partners will focus on keeping marketing strategies connected with the overarching business strategy. They’ll keep you in a trusted position among the c-suite because you’ll be reporting on and measuring what matters most, which will lead to you having a hand in the organization’s long-term success.

What’s the risk?

It sounds obvious, but it bears repeating: If the marketing goals don’t work to affect the business goals, you run the risk of being inefficient and ineffective.

Resources are finite, so properly allocating your time, money, and people will go farther and support your business to stay ahead of the competition versus having to catch up—or miss the mark completely.

Nobody can afford missed growth opportunities. By not identifying your business goals at the onset of any campaign or at the start of a new fiscal year can lead to misalignment and the risk of lost market expansion seizing developing trends or opportunities to enhance customer engagement.

All of this applies to informing your internal team of the 2024 goals too. Especially if you’re not working with a marketing partner and you’re managing these milestone initiatives internally. If that’s the case, be sure to take the same steps in communicating the pertinent details to your team and setting them up to know how best to strategically set up and plug in to deliver on results that matter.

Where do you go from here?

Choosing a strategic marketing partner who’s in tune with your business goals will go a long way toward helping you fulfill the many responsibilities of your role. Here’s a smart read on the CMO’s guide to finding a digital marketing agency.

DS+CO knows first-hand that client expectations of agencies have spiked and takes it seriously. In fact, we thrive on deep diving into the strategy and insights for your business to help you gain a competitive advantage. Our team of consultants’ heeds the counsel from industry experts like Mirren and blends it with the goals of your business. We take the approach to form a POV on your growth and execute in a way we can fuel it. In other words, we’re proud to be a true extension of your team.

If we’re not connected already and you’re in need of a goal-focused marketing agency, let’s talk. You can reach me at nadine_general@dixonschwabl.com.