Are you being asked to weigh in on marketing strategy? (IMO, CMOs would be nuts not to ask you!)

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Bob London
Bob London Member Posts: 54 Expert
5 Insightfuls Photogenic First Anniversary
edited June 2021 in Strategy & Planning
Curious whether CS leaders are asked to participate in marketing and sales strategy, like value prop, positioning, messaging?

As a career marketer who's seeing first-hand the fantastic insights CS has access to regarding what's REALLY going on in the customer's mind, particularly the ACTUAL value they perceive IRL (in real life!), I'd NEVER launch positioning, messaging or value prop strategies without CS weighing in.

I'm hoping CMOs and CROs are engaging you…but let me know either way.

Looking forward to comments!
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  • Laura Lakhwara
    Laura Lakhwara Member Posts: 45 Expert
    First Comment First Anniversary Photogenic
    edited June 2021
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    @Jeff Breunsbach - just gave a great talk about this via Nuffsaid.

    https://nuffsaid.wistia.com/medias/fyh090cqnz


    I've always had a strong relationship (met weekly) with the CMO, Product, PR, and GTM teams. The insights and data we share are essential for upgrading ICP, messaging, sales outcomes, pricing/contracts, and more. Vice versa, if there were major new strategic changes to top-of-the-funnel activity, I'd be clued into those decisions and provide my feedback. 

    The expectation was that I would bring data, client quotes, revenue impact, advocacy, survey results, anecdotes, product usage data, and more to these meetings.
  • Josh Buckley
    Josh Buckley Member Posts: 4 Navigator
    edited June 2021
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    Hi Bob - 

    My experience has been mixed.  In general, I've experienced positive engagement from the marketing organization for advocacy purposes (case studies, analyst references, etc.).  Proactive engagement on messaging and value proposition has been minimal.   If the CS team offers customer insights, it is accepted however it has not been part of marketing message development processes.   Similar story for sales programs.   CS has been included for account planning but not strategy. 

    This could be a characteristic of on-premise software companies that are transitioning to SaaS/subscription.   

    Totally agree the CS should be an integral part of the product marketing process.  Thanks for bringing it up!

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