Next Gen Marketing Group

It's Time CMO's Change Traditional Mindsets For Driving Success--Don't You Think?

You know as a long time corporate executive and former CMO/VP of Marketing for the last 10 years of my career, I thought I was pretty smart and effective driving success for the firms I worked for and managed resources efficiently. Then I pursued my entrepreneurial passions and realized how much I didn't know, how short-sided my thinking was and how culturally brainwashed I was. What do I mean?

Well, having now been the force behind NextGen Marketing Group for 5 years, we have had the good fortune of working with lots of companies across the country---from early stage start-ups to Fortune 500 firms, across various industries. One thing has become very clear to me when I work with these companies and spend time inside the firms observing management team behavior, culture, etc.---how CMO's often restrict themselves to traditional thinking when it comes to recruiting talent, managing resources, integrating external agencies and managing their overall budgets. What do I mean?

Well, if as a CMO my main goals are to drive terrific results, develop powerful marketing programs and assemble a world-class team---and perhaps achieve those with a restricted budget and resource constraints---shouldn't I be open to all kinds of approaches to make that happen? I would think so. But, many CMO's still approach these challenges with a "traditional" mindset---meaning building and managing a static set of FTE's within the Marketing organization and limiting outsourcing to one or possibly two "traditional" agencies. These resources end up being stretched very thin, asked to do work that may be outside their sweet spot, and the overall work culture becomes strained, tense and sometimes even negative. People become afraid to take risks and go the safe route when it comes to strategy and recommendations---so if they fail they still have a job. This approach really doesn't set the organization up to win, nor does it enable the CMO to maximize his or her opportunities. It is the traditional, safe, conservative and expected approach to work development.

So, what am I advocating? I am advocating that organizations and especially CMO's consider virtual resources and on-demand outsourcing models as a fundamental way they resource and manage work in this day and age---getting themselves out of this old-school model that constrains them. If you could assemble a world-class team of resources and creative services "on-demand" (when you need them) and manage them virtually (through cloud-based technologies) and get more done with fewer dollars---why not? Why only do this when the pressure is on? Why not make this approach a standard way you operate?

Obviously this thinking has been a fundamental driver to creating a "Next Gen" marketing firm, business model and the company we have formed. But, changing this mindset is our biggest barrier---getting CMO's to think outside the box. So, I ask you to reflect on your current organizations, how you staff and resource critical work, and challenge yourself to make sure you are using the very best options to drive success. If you are stuck in the traditional, static resourcing model----give the virtual, on-demand approach strong consideration. It might be a terrific test for you and become a standard part of your plan going forward

March Madness is Here! No, I Don't Mean College Basketball. I Mean Q1 is Almost Over and Your Company's Revenue is Behind Plan. Must Be Marketings' Fault Right? What To Do?

Colleagues:

I love March Madness. As a former college athlete, I have always had a huge passion for sports, love to compete, and have felt that many of the attributes you develop in competitive sports carry over to being successful in business. Like many fans, I think this time of year is very exciting. The upsets, the competition, the fan support, the entire atmosphere is the best.

However, for many CMO's March Madness can mean something very different. It can mean that you started the year with less budget than you wanted, had to stretch your marketing staff resources tremendously, and are doing all you can to drive success. Sales teams are out there fighting hard and battling to close deals as well. But, what happens if the sales numbers are behind budgeted forecasts? What do you do? Hope for a Hail Mary shot at the buzzer before the Quarter ends?

As we all know, the question of "WHAT" is wrong, and "WHY" your company is behind plan is the major topic of management team meetings. The CEO wants to put the heat on the CMO and CSO---pushing harder for solutions. I've worked for a few CEO's (they will remain nameless) who loved to see Sales/Marketing execs squirm and fire bullets to see what happened. This is the time when true character and integrity shine or flaws come out and finger pointing begins. It gets worse as the year goes on and numbers don't catch up or meet expectations.

As a CMO what do you do here? Well, I suggest the best course of action always is not to panic or initiate a "knee-jerk" reaction to beginning the year with a slow start. However, I do think you should begin a careful validation process going through major checklist items to make sure you "have it right" in the strategic and tactical marketing efforts. For example, speak to your customers, prospects, sales teams, churned customers---fine tune your listening skills to all your key touch points. What can we do better? Why did you buy from our competitor? Why did you cancel service? What would make you buy from us now? Examine all your marketing metrics and KPI's, ROI's.

This fine tuning process is very important to uncover any "misses" or changes in the marketplace, your assumptions, or the dynamics going on that are affecting Sales. Keep an open and frequent dialogue going on with Sales leaders and make sure your analysis is fact-based. You need to study external and internal KPI's and facts---compare them to what you expected. For anything that seems off, you should perform some root cause analysis and drill into what is happening. You also need to make sure Sales is doing the right things, etc.

The key thing here is don't panic, don't get defensive, don't start shooting people, don't point fingers, don't over-react. But, turn up your hearing and listening, increase the depth of your analysis, and stay focused. Usually, the squirrels emerge from the holes and you can see where the problems are and initiate correction actions. Most of all, be proactive---take charge in a professional, factual, unemotional (I know--easy for me to say given my passion for things) fashion that is data-driven. Get the facts, develop corrective actions and manage the implementation. Stay on top of it each month until you see the positive outcomes.

Of course, if any of that doesn't work you can always polish your half-court shot and hope it goes in:):):) (or update your resume).....

Go Jayhawks!!!!


Greg

New Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget in 2011

Colleagues:

As a senior marketing executive and former CMO/VP at large public and also early stage companies, I have first hand experience this time of year fighting the battles with the CFO, CEO and Board justifying why Marketing is a critical/essential function for the company and why requested marketing budgets are key strategic investments in the business. Of course, these debates often turn into philosophical arguments about how "soft" Marketing is and if these dollars are "really required" to attain financial goals.

For those of you sitting in the CMO seat, you can probably relate to what I am saying here. December is often a tense time of year, especially if financial targets were not met during the business year and belts have to be tightened going forward. During this extended recession, this has often been the case at many, many companies.

I'd like to submit that this annual right of CMO passage is not likely to change any time soon, nor is the realistic budget requirement to do more with less. You can't be a CMO for long anymore and survive the battles unless you can provide a viable ROI for every dime you spend. That's just reality. So, how do you survive and even thrive in this challenging environment and manage a tightening budget to do more?

I suggest it is time that all CMO's critically evaluate HOW they staff their internal marketing functions, HOW they hire outside marketing agencies and support resources, HOW the process and business model efficiencies can be improved, and HOW the marketing mix they use to allocate marketing dollars can be optimized. Current and traditional business models for staffing key functions, critical strategic projects, or obtaining powerful creative marketing support have not changed for years. These models are slow, inefficient, loaded with risk, burdened by unnecessary costs and fees, and no longer the optimum way to manage shrinking budgets and increased pressure to deliver faster.

Instead, I urge CMO's to step outside your traditional mindset and assemble an "on-demand", virtual marketing team of professionals that can throttle up or throttle down as business demands, workload, and budgetary resources are available. Why force yourself to hire all full-time, dedicated resources---relocate all of them, and be forced to lay some of them off if results don't materialize? Will morale suffer? Will your productivity levels decrease? Absolutely. They do today under the realities of this business cycle we have been operating under. Same for agencies. Why hire multiple agencies who "bait and switch", offer only specialized expertise, and charge you hidden fees that dwindle the actual dollars you have left over to spend on media or actual marketing programs?

I am a passionate advocate that our traditional mindsets have to change for how we run our businesses going forward and the classical, hierarchical, machine bureaucracy organizational structures that are static are no longer the most efficient way to drive efficiencies. Instead, I argue that organizations and marketing professionals alike would both benefit from a virtual, on-demand business model where talented resource pools, platforms and other services can be accessed "on-demand" to fill critical requirements, meet deliverables, and produce efficient results. Clearly, our economy has produced an over-supply situation where more quality professionals exist in the marketplace than full-time jobs and available positions. That is why we have a 10% unemployment rate and a 20% underemployment rate. Is this likely to change anytime soon? Are we witnessing a seismic shift in how business will function going forward? I believe we are and it is time business leaders and professionals alike stopped sitting around waiting for things to "bounce back" and instead changed how they view the professional supply/demand equation.

Going forward, consider the virtues of having access to a world-class pool of marketing resources whenever you need them---on-call, on-demand and affordable. In peak times, you can throttle up and tap into as many resources as you need. In off-peak times, you can downsize the virtual pool and only utilize what you need---when you need it. Same for creative services and talent.

This virtual marketing model allows the CMO to have extreme flexibility, save significant dollars over traditional models and approaches, and also avoid many traditional, hidden fees. Additionally, you get open access to the best and brightest resources available to work on your business with much better morale, excitement and energy---they are not sitting around the water cooler wondering when or if they might be laid off.

Certainly this new model is not without flaws or risks. I doubt it would make much sense to swing 100% of your staffing and support in this direction. However, I do feel comfortable suggesting that 2011 is a year CMO's need to give serious consideration to a blended approach and begin evaluating these virtual models as complements or replacements to their traditional game-plans. Why not?

Finally, I accept criticism if anyone who reads this blog suggests this is strictly a self-serving post because this defines many of the services offered by NextGen Marketing Group. No question, this is true. However, my passion for this mindset change is driven by my need to share and challenge us all to begin thinking very differently as we look for solutions to our business needs. The good old days are gone---maybe forever. So, let's stop living off "hope" and operating with traditional models that no longer fit the realities of the world we now live in. A virtual model that leverages world-class marketing talent and resources---in an efficient and affordable manner deserves strong consideration from all CMO's in 2011. Try it and see how this could very well change your world and open up an entirely new set of opportunities for you going forward and reduce the battles you have to fight---but deliver you results and peace of mind.

Best wishes for great holiday season and a terrific 2011.

 

Sincerely,

 

Greg Crosby

Founder/CEO

NextGen Marketing Group

www.nextgenmktg.com

It's Time for New Business Models to Drive How Companies Operate and Work Efficiently.

Dear Colleagues:

I hope all of you are as glad to see 2009 go as I am and also as excited about the possibilities we all have in 2010. While the recession and economic challenges have been a test for all of us, I also believe that it has forced business leaders to reevaluate how they structure and operate their companies going forward. As I have written in my blog before, our traditional mindsets about "bigger is better" and hierarchical business structures have to be challenged aggressively.

We have all witnessed major companies in key industries such as Telecom, Financial Services, Automotive, Retail, Transportation, etc., struggling under their own weight and being forced to layoff thousands of workers just to scale back costs. 10% + unemployment has become a reality as so many companies have decided their best course of action was to cut staff and save SG&A.

Is this really the answer? Is the size of their work forces simply a derived outcome of business strategies to be as large as possible, function under traditional business structures and models, and build empires that eventually collapse under their own weight? I believe this crazy cycle of hire--fire---hire---fire has to be challenged and our thought processes of corporate design, structure and operating models that were born in the 1920's thrown out the window.

A great example is in the marketing services and consulting industry where we have have seen the same traditional approach being in place forever. If you are a CMO or business leader and are looking for some high quality, affordable help---it is a very frustrating and expensive process. If you need interim resources or marketing consultants, the big firms bring on one person who has had a "real job", and a full team of fresh MBA's who run around and produce fancy charts. At the end of the process, you get a huge 3-ring binder that simply restates what you already knew---in different terms and with prettier graphics. Plus you paid a zillion dollars for their services. If you are trying to find 1 or 2 consultants or contractors, you have to compare resume after resume to determine who is the best qualified and capable of helping you. How do you know this is a good fit?

When you are shopping for a marketing firm or ad agency, you parade the top candidates in front of you and they all claim to have incredible creative abilities and world-class credentials. Plus, they pitch your business with the "A Team" and then after you hire them your account team is staffed with Moe, Larry, and Curly---the "A Team" is long gone. Usually you also realize one agency or firm does not have comprehensive knowledge and skills across the entire marketing mix you need, so you end up hiring, managing and paying for multiple agencies. This creates added delays, cost, and management challenges for you.

So why does it have to be this way? I don't believe it has to. That is why I have passionately developed and launched the NextGen Marketing Group (www.nextgenmktg.com). Our virtual business model offers companies affordable, efficient, highly experienced and knowledgable marketing advisors, contractors, interim resources combined with a complete virtual catalog of Go-to-Market services normally found with multiple agencies and firms. Plus we offer innovative productivity technology solutions such as Virtual Meeting Services and On-Demand Applications to help our clients improve how they utilize and manage their critical internal marketing and sales resources. Finally, we work with our clients virtually online or traditionally--onsite, connecting all our clients to our entire roster of resources so communications, collaboration, problem solving, ideation, and decisions can flow in a timely and efficient fashion. This eliminates resource constraints, geographic barriers, extensive project delays, minimizes travel and expenses, and expedites work results. Our pricing and rate structures offer businesses of all sizes and across all industries affordable options for support ranging from occasional virtual advisory sessions and innovative business memberships, to larger project or flat resource fee programs.

As you enter 2010, I encourage all of you to challenge yourself, your company leaders and decision makers to think outside the box and shed the traditional business models and mindsets. Explore virtual business models, virtual employees and virtual services that give you the ability to be nimble, efficient, and more competitive. As you evaluate your marketing needs for 2010, I also encourage you to test our new model at the NextGen Marketing Group and enjoy the quality, efficiencies, and affordable results we can deliver for your company. Visit our new website at www.nextgenmktg.com or call us at 1-877-569-8436. Register for a FREE virtual advisory session with one of our NextGen Braintrust marketing advisors, request a price quote or detailed information on a V-Market service, sign up for a FREE Virtual Meeting Service, or purchase affordable On-Demand Applications from our NextGen Marketing Group Webstore.

Have a great 2010 and let's make the coming year a successful and historic pivot point in how business is conducted and reinvent ourselves. The NextGen Marketing Group is a great example and we look forward to chatting with you about your business.

Regards,

Greg Crosby

Founder and CEO

The NextGen Marketing Group

The Next Generation of Business Models - It Has to Be Now

As we all listen to the gloomy economic news on a daily basis, witness huge layoffs from major companies across a variety of industries, see stock values plummet, and observe the federal government issuing huge bailout packages to corporate America, will conditions continue to get worse or is there a brighter future for the Corporate America? Will jobs continue to erode and how will our industry survive all of this?

Well, I submit that even in such a historic time of economic challenge for the world and our industry, that now is also a time of tremendous opportunity. Our world is changing right before our eyes.  “Traditional” company structures and business models that have carried built-in excess costs, operating inefficiencies and to some extent fed off their own insatiable appetites for dominance or wanting to be “big”, are now trying to retool and shift how they operate. Some will survive this transformation, others’ won’t. Major costs have to be stripped out and huge questions surround many major “brands” across the financial services, transportation, manufacturing, automotive, retail, and of course technology and telecom industries.

I suggest to a large degree many of these companies are in this position not because of the “economy”, but because they have operated their businesses under structures, policies, mindsets, and operating models that have become outdated and unmanageable. Many huge companies find it difficult to make transformational shifts in strategy, operating style, staffing models, or services delivery because they are stuck in the traditional mentality of viewing how business must be done. Building huge corporate campuses, funding their own air fleets, throwing lavish parties and retreats, paying huge executive bonuses, and spending millions on supporting these big traditional corporate lifestyles, cultures, and infrastructures  are now being heavily scrutinized.

So what’s the point here? Well, I propose that during this very difficult time new business leaders and entrepreneurs will emerge that recognize that the “company of the future” will look very different than the Titantic models we have all been conditioned to accept as standard. Having more nimble, virtual infrastructures, remote/telecommuter work forces, technology-enabled processes for sales/support/marketing/administrative and services delivery will become not just a novelty--but the way future companies will compete and thrive. Gone will be the days of the lavish spending, large corporate palaces, and luxury driven spending supported by these huge corporate structures.

If you subscribe to the theory that we are undergoing a historic, transformational shift in our economy, then telecommunications and technology providers can be at the forefront of helping to create this world and business model. Critical services such as Video/Audio/Web conferencing, Unified Messaging, Broadband and Enhanced Services, SaaS, Managed Services, Mobility and VoIP will be the critical enablers that provide the infrastructure for these new business models to flourish. The tech industry will be the lifeline for this major transformation.

So why can’t we do this now? We can. What is missing is the core message and strategy that has to be communicated to our audiences along with the platforms we offer---The BIG Picture. Our industry, products, and people can and should be drivers of this sea-change. Everyone’s future may depend on it. Let’s step up and lead the charge.