When I consider how to best set up a system to effectively Market My Marketing to internal stakeholders, I first consider my goal. This generally takes one of 3 directions: am I Marketing for Awareness, Authority, or to Alter Perceptions?
Are You Marketing for Awareness?
When marketing for awareness, your goal is to shine a light on your marketing efforts and their potential impact across the organization.
As psychologist Nathaniel Branden said, “The first step toward change is awareness…” In this context, the change we’re seeking is an increase in collaboration and support for our marketing initiatives.
This awareness can manifest in various ways across different departments:
- The pricing team becomes aware of how their insights can enhance promotion timing and pricing.
- The inside sales team recognizes the value of sharing your content with their contacts.
- A casual mention of your campaign resource by one colleague to another spreads awareness of your marketing efforts.
By fostering this awareness, you’re laying the groundwork for a broader understanding and support of your marketing strategies throughout the organization.
Are You Marketing for Authority?
Much of the work that we do as marketers is not visible to the rest of the organization. In this void, they are left to create their own narrative for what effective marketing should look like or form opinions on what effective means.
Admittedly, this can be a sensitive area, but we can approach it as an opportunity to gain support and exhibit marketing prowess. The key is ensuring your explanation and reasoning resonate with your internal audience’s job function. What are they measured on, and how does this marketing activity relate to that?
After the arrival of a new social media manager, our follower growth slowed compared to that of their predecessor, leading well-meaning but inexperienced colleagues to offer unsolicited “help.” They lacked awareness of the social media manager’s new targeted approach aimed at attracting followers better aligned with our ideal customer profile. This absence of communication created the false perception that we lacked direction. Ultimately, we learned that to maintain authority in our marketing decisions, we must actively communicate our strategies in a way that reinforces our expertise.
Are You Marketing to Alter Perceptions?
As someone who’s always questioning and testing, I often find perceptions are developed early and struggle to maintain alignment with changing facts. I love digging into these issues; however, it often leads to the monumental task of changing people’s minds.
As a program marketer, I managed a long-standing customer publication that was perceived as an easy win. But digging deeper, I uncovered signs of decline.
“Leave it alone, Elizabeth!”
I couldn’t. My challenge was to present findings without putting stakeholders on the defensive. I needed to shift perceptions gently.
I presented a marketing perspective on how this print program needed to evolve, addressing how current methods weren’t achieving results like before. My goal: maintain revenue while better supporting sales and customer loyalty.
To create buy-in and advocates, I proposed a transitional process, introducing digital elements alongside print. This approach eased stakeholders towards a digital-only solution, altering perceptions without causing immediate disruption.
Finding the Right Mix
Your overall goal for Marketing Your Marketing is likely to be a combination of these types and will likely shift over time. Sometimes, you present for awareness, and it turns into the need to shift perception. That’s good. Creating marketing advocates outside of the marketing department is a valuable outcome of this process.
The key is to remain flexible and attuned to your audience’s needs and reactions. As you navigate these different approaches, remember that the ultimate goal is to foster understanding, collaboration, and support for your marketing initiatives.
Here are some final thoughts to consider:
- Regularly assess your internal marketing strategy: What worked yesterday might not work today.
- Build relationships across departments: This can make it easier to gain support and understanding for your marketing efforts.
- Be transparent: Share both successes and challenges to build trust and credibility.
- Encourage feedback: Create channels for other departments to share their thoughts and ideas about marketing initiatives.
- Celebrate wins together: When marketing efforts pay off, make sure to share the success with those who support you.
By thoughtfully marketing your marketing, you’re not just promoting your initiatives; you’re building a culture of collaboration and shared success. Whether you’re raising awareness, establishing authority, or altering perceptions, your efforts to communicate and engage with internal stakeholders can lead to more effective marketing outcomes and a stronger, more aligned organization overall.
Remember, marketing your marketing is an ongoing process. It requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to adapt. But the rewards – in terms of increased support, better cross-functional collaboration, and more impactful marketing efforts – are well worth the investment.
