Although marketing technology is evolving at breakneck speed, the ability for some marketers to shift from tactical order taker to strategic market maker continues to move at a snail’s pace. This painful reality surfaced recently while I attended a marketing conference.
A trainer had just finished sharing the merits of developing a written marketing operations plan. When the speaker opened up the floor for audience questions, a frustrated marketer asked, “This plans looks interesting in theory—but how do we get our leadership to actually listen to us?” The room fell silent.
While many marketing leaders don the latest predictive analytics, lead scoring, and customer relationship management magic wands, they can barely get their foot in the door of the C-suite. Instead, they are relegated to fulfilling time-sensitive requests to deliver better content, leads, and events.
ASSESSING YOUR VALUE
How do you know whether you are an order taker or a market maker? First, explore whether your peers perceive you as a market maker. Try this exercise. Create a time log and track how you spend your time over an entire week. Work-related activities fall into one of three categories:
