5 Ways Marketing Teams Are Leading Business Transformation
Businesses have to keep improving in terms of skills, tools, and customer experience just to stay afloat. Read on to discover the five ways marketing teams are leading business transformation.
For most organizations and industries, business transformation is not always the result of a deliberate effort. The entries and exits of players in the market, the arrival of new technology, and innovations in orienting the product lines with the customer needs are more often, the key catalysts.
Over the years, the approaches of various organizations in identifying and shaping their markets have shifted from being product oriented to being customer oriented. Essentially, the end-to-end integration of business processes beginning from identifying the prospect customers and receiving responses from the sales has transformed the way business is conducted.
The marketing strategies and techniques and new avenues like organic social media, marketing project management software, email newsletters, webinars, etc. that evolved over time have lead to fundamental changes in the systems, processes and market placement of businesses. Innovative businesses heavily rely on investing their resources to effectively utilize emerging opportunities.
Nokia – Jolted by the Cyclone, Later Caught the Wind
The company, named after the southwestern town (Nokia) in Finland was the leader of its market from the late 1990s and early 2010s. It had sold over 250 million units of the Nokia 1110 and 1100. Within a few years, the company was struggling for a small share in the market. Its sales dropped dramatically and all of its models faced competition from their dominant rival - Samsung.
The problem was, the sales and market share was too good, it sat down on its recliner chewing on its pipe. It forgot to innovate. Soon, there were more players in the market with new shiny hardware and specifications. By 2014, the company was totally abandoned.
In its second innings, the company had a thorough marketing strategy laid out. It would leverage on the “nostalgia” factor of the market, adopt new technologies and begin to innovate. It was a clever move. The new devices were received warmly and soon they were viral.
This is a recurring theme in most industries – rise and fall of empires, and in most cases, the key factor for the fall is failure to identify/meet customer demands.
So, How Do Marketers Evolve as Catalysts for Business Transformation?
Marketers all over the globe, regardless of the performance of their products, constantly engage themselves in updating and improving their strategies. From identifying the customer needs to fulfill them, there are a number of functions that require constant attention. The integration, as well as delegation of these marketing functions into manageable units, is very crucial in the current scenario.
Another rising factor that makes marketers evolve as catalysts for business transformation is project management software for marketing. Adopting the right project management software for marketing teams not only ensures proper monitoring of strategies, but also:
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Allows seamless team collaboration
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Ensures all marketing strategies are tracked from start to finish
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Keeps everyone in the loop
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Monitors team performance
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Bills clients automatically
Now that we know the key factors that affect marketing teams and their success, let’s look at the five ways marketing teams are leading business transformation.
1. Betting on Data
In the era before the advent of Information Technology, marketing was carried out using techniques, which were mostly limited to flamboyant demonstrations of product features, and brand building. Later, however, as options to gather and organize data became more convenient, marketers began investing themselves in formulating strategies and approaches to identify customer needs and align their businesses with the emerging trends in the markets.
The changes were reflected in the business processes integrated with marketing and further on how the whole business is carried out. A lot of managers started turning to marketing project management software that allowed them to access, store, manage, and share relevant information to teams or clients easily. So, with the right project management software for marketing, it becomes really easy to manage enormous amount of data on one platform.
2. Leveraging on Technology
The coolest companies are always the ones who try to stay young by updating themselves with the developments in technology. Let us take a look at the customer experience side of marketing. In recent years, marketing has evolved from merely inducing sales to adding value to the customer and enhancing the overall user experience. For the marketing itself to become a value-added service, the businesses have to adopt scientific, data-driven methods and approaches in the marketing function.
This is where innovative project management tools for marketing can help with the management of plans and by allowing real-time monitoring & evaluation to reach the goals. Such tools can help establish a productive stream of communication among the members of the marketing team and the manager to effectively put the marketing policy into work.
3. Being Proactive
The ultimate aim of a marketer is to take the organization to the pinnacle of the industry and secure a permanent spot at the top. The best businesspersons keep themselves constantly updated on the emerging trends, market conditions, and make proactive decisions. Keeping and maintaining a robust database is of utmost importance in this respect.
This can also be achieved by adopting a project management tool for marketing teams. It offers you a cloud-based database to store all kinds of information you need regarding marketing trends, strategies, etc.
4. Aligning the Product Lines With the Market
No matter how much effort is put into the product design, the user determines the ultimate utility of a product. However, to ensure that the customer can tap into the utility warehouse of the product/service, it must be designed in such a manner that the customer expectations are interwoven with the product specs. Most innovative marketers heavily rely on data gathered from social media platforms and other sources like website queries to identify & respond to customer expectations.
5. Collaborating with Rivals
The late 20th and early 21st century have witnessed the oddest events. Shaking hands with rivals, collaborating to serve the customers better and “make more together” have all been emerging trends in recent decades. The edgy businesses design their marketing strategies to minimize competition, harmonize within the industry, and perform better in their segment or area of expertise.
Adopt a Marketing Project Management Software And Supercharge Your Business!
The age-old maxim - innovate or die, stands true till date. Every successful business will have a good track record of innovation. Innovation can take different forms; it may be in the form of a new product, or the adoption of new business policy, or even transforming a running process/system.
More often than not, the marketers serve as ears and eyes of every organization. They sense the upcoming and emerging trends in the markets and shed new light on what business practices to adopt and what to drop. Marketing essentially functions as a connecting link between user expectations and what the industry promises to deliver.
By keeping watch over the emerging customer needs and listening intently to the rhythm of the marketplace, the marketers lubricate the transformation of systems to align them with the emerging market.
It is also crucial to do your research and adopt a marketing project management software that allows you to:
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Access, manage and track strategy execution
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Stor files on one platform
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Give feedback to team members anytime, anywhere
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Monitor and generate insightful reports to keep improving team performance
So, keep in mind the tips mentioned in this blog and transform your business!