CMO Survival Guide: Board of Directors EngagementOverview Preparing for and participating in meetings with a board of directors can be daunting for many CMOs. The challenge begins with crafting a message that directors can understand and value, and then showcasing metrics-based results that are accurate and credible. On a more strategic level, CMOs who can leverage best practices in marketing performance, measurement and reporting in board meetings can foster better relationships with directors. By showcasing marketings integral role in driving business performance, CMOs validate the importance of their teams and solidify their standing within their organization. Following are a series of recommended steps for CMOs to not only survive board meetings but even thrive in these situations. This roadmap reflects best practices that SiriusDecisions has observed among marketing leaders during their board of directors encounters.© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 3 As part of the pre-work phase before meeting with your board of directors, its important to understand the orientation and interests of your board members. Does your board customarily adopt a product-oriented perspective? Or will a financial discussion resonate more strongly? How about sales productivity and conversions? Decide which “personas” best describe your board and tailor your message accordingly. © SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 4 Most boards of directors have a standard set of data they expect from marketing, often relating to business contributions, peer activity, customer feedback and key marketing activities. Still, there can be some divergence in terms of their level of marketing intelligence. Its helpful to think of the CMO-board relationship as a process that can improve over time through ongoing education about marketing tools, deliverables and business contribution (e.g. pipeline and revenue contribution). © SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 5 Nothing grabs an audiences attention like a compelling visual. Paint an easily understood picture of what marketing does in a simple chart that captures marketings structure, tactical elements and benefits to the organization. Crisply describe why they should care about marketing, emphasizing the need to engage and create great experiences for buyers and customers, and effective alignment with the sales organization to drive improved sales productivity. This should include required marketing tools, their beneficial impacts and target results for benchmarking purposes. Provide a competitive read on what your peers are doing in terms of marketing spending, strategies and impact. This snapshot gives directors comparable data points with which to evaluate your current marketing strategies and justify their support. © SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 6 If youre like most marketers, your board may ask, “All of this is great, but how do we measure how were doing? And what does success look like?” Weve found that these and other related board questions are not always eliciting the answers that they deserve. For example, throwing more bodies against sales may not be the best response to “Is our investment in marketing paying off?” More leads do not automatically equate to better sales. And pinging customers with emails or sending holiday gifts to top customers may not be the elixir for enhancing customer experience and retention rates. What Not to Say© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 7 w/ w The good news with marketing measurement is that most CMOs have a set of consistent metrics to convey marketings performance. These are typically shared via quarterly business reviews with senior leadership and board meetings. On the minus side, most CMOs are unsure that their current metrics showcase marketings accountability and business contribution holistically. Many see their metrics as incomplete, fragmented, disconnected from relevant sales reporting, and overly focused on only demand creation. Additionally, some CMOs find that senior leadership and board members dont view marketing metrics as credible. One effective way to address credibility issues is to partner with the CFO to have finance audit marketing reporting. Also, never show marketing reporting linked to sales performance (e.g. contribution to pipeline/revenue, and sales productivity improvements) without first getting agreement from the sales leader.© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 8 There is a need to evolve from todays more functional, exclusively retrospective approach to performance measurement to a more strategic process that links to business realities, audience targets and business outcomes. Good measurement provides insight into business fundamentals and how to improve.© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 9 Kw The first step is to understand the different types of marketing metrics that can be used. The SiriusDecisions Metrics Spectrum organizes marketing metrics into four clearly defined classes that measure a marketing organizations readiness to perform, the activities it completes and the outputs of those activities, as well as the impact of marketing on the achievement of business goals.© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 10 D :SpO The first step is to ensure that the dashboard targets senior leaders/board members and conveys the holistic contribution and business impact of marketing. The dashboard needs to address purpose, targets and metric type.© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 11 D :Sp w Create the marketing dashboard with dual reporting capabilities. 1. Business-facing: marketings impact on business value 2. Marketing-facing: tool for CMOs, marketing team to gauge progress© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 12 D :Sp Design the dashboard to track well-defined measurements under demand, reputation, sales enablement and priority programs Provide the ability to gauge business readiness levels with compliance, budget, database quality and training© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 13 D :SpF Align marketing goals with business priorities in four categories: growth, position, readiness and efficiency Connect actions with key objectives and corresponding metrics© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 14Know the audience and agendaReport supported resultsDemonstrate progressProvide guidance for whats aheadMaintain high-level dialogueSpeak boards language k SiriusDecisions works with leading Chief Marketing Officers across multiple industries and regions to drive positive organizational change, validate decisions, innovate, benchmark, and challenge them to create the most effective, measurable and accountable marketing function possible. For more information and resources, visit siriusdecisions.This content is copyrighted by SiriusDecisions, Inc. and cannot be reproduced or shared without prior expressed written permission from SiriusDecisions, Inc. SiriusDecisions helps business-to-business companies worldwide improve sales, marketing and product effectiveness. Management teams make more informed business decisions through access to our industry analysts, best practice research, benchmark data, peer networks, events and continuous learning courses. SiriusDecisions is based in Wilton, CT with offices in London, Montreal, San Francisco and Waltham, MA. 187 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897 +1 (203) 665-4000 fax +1 (203) 563-9260 siriusdecisions