Marketing Campaign Development

Marketing
Campaign
Development
What marketing executives need to
know about architecting global
integrated marketing campaigns
By Mike Gospe
20660 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Suite 210
Cupertino, CA 95014
Marketing Campaign Development:
What marketing executives need to know about
architecting global integrated marketing campaigns
Copyright © 2008 by Happy About®
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in
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thor(s) assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any
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tion contained herein.
First Printing: March 1, 2008
Paperback ISBN: 1-60005-077-8 (978-1-60005-077-0)
Place of Publication: Silicon Valley, California, USA
Paperback Library of Congress Number: 2007939873
eBook ISBN: 1-60005-078-6 (978-1-60005-078-7)
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Endorsements for Marketing Campaign Development
“Mike's approach to integrated marketing and his use of program
blueprints are the tools that will keep the spirit of the guerrilla marketer
alive.”
Jay Conrad Levinson, The Father of Guerrilla Marketing, with over
15 million copies sold
“Mike has written a great inspirational ‘how to’ book for busi-
ness-to-business marketers in the Internet age. His examples and
prescriptions really got my creative juices flowing! He shows you how
to focus, align and motivate your executives, your distributed market-
ing professionals, your publicists, and your sales organization (direct
and indirect channels). He explains how you can design holistic, inte-
grated marketing campaigns that address the specific needs of indi-
vidual customers in particular roles in targeted industries. This is
customer-led marketing at its best!”
Patricia B. Seybold, Author, Outside Innovation, The Customer
Revolution, and Customers.com
“A true ‘marketing process’ approach that aligns customers, sales and

marketing for marketplace success. Practical and powerful.”
Don Schultz, Professor, Northwestern University, and author of
the book 'Integrated Marketing Communications'
Dedication
To Mary,
Sean,
and Zachary
for
your support
and
encouragement.
Acknowledgements
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. The same is true for
this book. Because I couldn't find a recipe for working cross-function-
ally to develop a truly integrated marketing campaign, I had to invent
one.
My quest began in 1985 when I was a young ambitious marketer
working for Hewlett-Packard. If I have achieved success in this book
it is because I had plenty of help along the way. In truth, so many
people have contributed so extensively to my learning over the years
that it is no longer possible to say precisely to whom I am
indebted—except for three notable exceptions. I am greatly indebted
to Cindy Kennaugh and Elaine Miller, two of the very finest marketing
strategists and politically-savvy campaign leaders I have ever known
and had the pleasure to work with. And I wish to thank Brian Gentile,
a friend and colleague who is a continuing inspiration for me to be the
best marketing leader I can be.
Without family and friends, the formation of this book wouldn't have
been possible. I thank my KickStart Alliance team of Mary Gospe,
Mary Sullivan, and Janet Gregory for their constant inspiration and
editorial assistance. Special thanks also go to Sridhar Ramanathan,
Tobey Fitch, and Susan Thomas for their tutelage. And I offer my
sincere appreciation to Mitchell Levy, my publisher, for his unending
support.
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C o n t e n t s
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Truth about Campaign Development . . 3

Why is campaign development important?. . . . . . . . . 3
Sun Microsystems: a case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Introducing the Integrated Marketing Plan (IMP)
template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Campaigns versus activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 2 Secrets of a Best-in-Class Campaign

Development Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
What is the campaign development process,
and what triggers it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Part 1: Overview of the campaign development
process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
How the most successful companies develop
their best campaign plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Breaking down the basic campaign
development process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Kickoff Meeting: prelude to planning . . . . . . . . . 22
Synchronization Meetings: building the IMP. . . . . . . 27
Decision: steering committee review meetings . . . . 31
Part 2: Roles and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Part 3: Answers to the four most common
questions about the process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 3 Setting the Foundation of Your

Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The three pillars that define a marketing
campaign’s success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Pillar 1: Defining the marketing campaign . . . . . . . . 40
Pillar 2: Constructing a “campaign-level”
marketing objective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pillar 3: Building a well-constructed value
proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A best-practice value proposition template. . . . . . . . 46
Marketing Campaign Development vii

Chapter 4 Working the Process: Part 1 –
Sketching the Campaign Map . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Working the IMP process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The objective of the Integrated Marketing Plan . . . . 56
Getting to Gate 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Introducing the campaign map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Choosing the right programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
The high-level tactical calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Rough budget estimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Documenting assumptions and identifying
synergies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A word about presenting to the steering
committee at Gate 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Chapter 5 Working the Process: Part 2 –

Creating Program Blueprints . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Getting to Gate 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The logic behind program blueprints . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Examining a few blueprint examples . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Questions you must be able to answer
before you can build a program blueprint. . . . . . . . . 81
Designing your own blueprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Program blueprint critique sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Chapter 6 Choosing Proper Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Understanding metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The importance of a scorecard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Understanding the marketing knowledge
hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Observational insight versus contextual insight . . . 102
Critical success factors for managing the
metrics management process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 7 The Role of the Campaign Manager . . . . . 107

What is a campaign manager, really? . . . . . . . . . . 108
When do you need a campaign manager? . . . . . . 109
Five success factors of effective campaign
managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Executive endorsement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Campaign management case studies . . . . . . . . . . 114
Just for campaign managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Recognizing success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Final thoughts for campaign managers . . . . . . . . . 117
viii Contents
Chapter 8 Overcoming Objections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 9 Taking the First Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Step 1: Focus on three things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Step 2: Perform a campaign development
assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
What’s covered in a typical campaign
development assessment?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Techniques to help you hear the “voice of
the customer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
How successful are your outbound
marketing communications today? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Step 3: Make it visible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Five rules for marketing leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
In conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Appendices
Appendix A Value Proposition Template . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Appendix B Integrated Marketing Plan Template. . . . . 145
Appendix C The Seven Program Blueprints. . . . . . . . . 147
Author About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Your Book Create Thought Leadership for your Company . . . 159

Why wait to write your book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Books Other Happy About Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Marketing Campaign Development ix

x Contents
F i g u r e s
Figure 1 Sun's WebTone Marketing

Campaign Map ...................................... 7
Figure 2 Sun's WebTone Tactical Launch

Plan (Phase 1) ...................................... 9
Figure 3 Understanding the Campaign

Hierarchy of Campaigns, Programs,
Activities, and Offers ......................... 12
Figure 4 A Company's Business Planning

Cycle .................................................. 18
Figure 5 Campaign Development Process ........ 19
Figure 6 Three Phases of the Campaign

Development Process ......................... 21
Figure 7 A Typical Agenda for a

Kickoff Meeting .................................. 24
Figure 8 A Typical Agenda for a Gate 1

Review Meeting .................................. 33
Figure 9 A Typical Agenda for a Gate 2

Review Meeting .................................. 33
Figure 10 Fundamental Steps in the Complete

Campaign Development Process ........ 34
Figure 11 Basic Roles and Responsibilities ....... 35
Figure 12 Example of a Campaign Name

and Description .................................. 40
Figure 13 Good Campaign-Level Objectives ...... 42
Marketing Campaign Development xi

Figure 14 Three Flavors of Value Propositions ... 45
Figure 15 Value Proposition Template ................ 46
Figure 16 Value Driver Elements Including

Outcomes and Their Metrics ............... 49
Figure 17 A Technique for Summarizing

Competitive Differentiators ................. 50
Figure 18 Common Evidence Mistakes That

Can Cripple a Campaign ..................... 51
Figure 19 Example Value Proposition Template

Based on a Real Product ..................... 52
Figure 20 Table of Contents for the Gate 1

Review Meeting ................................... 59
Figure 21 Mapping the Seven Program

Types within a Campaign .................... 60
Figure 22 Hypothetical Mapping of Programs

within a Campaign .............................. 62
Figure 23 An Example of a High-level

Tactical Calendar ................................ 65
Figure 24 Table of Contents for the Gate 2

Review Meeting ................................... 74
Figure 25 Tying Programs to a Specific

Marketing or Sales Objective .............. 76
Figure 26 Understanding the Difference

between Activities Versus Programs .. 76
Figure 27 Example of a Blueprint for a New

Customer Acquisition Program ........... 78
xii Figures
Figure 28 A Second Example of a Blueprint
for a New Customer Acquisition
Program .............................................. 80
Figure 29 Key Program Design Questions ......... 81
Figure 30 Targeting Prospects Means Aiming

for the Bull's Eye ................................ 82
Figure 31 A Model for Cascading Marketing

Objectives .......................................... 93
Figure 32 An Example of Linking Goals and

Objectives to Appropriate Metrics ..... 94
Figure 33 An Example of a Mock Marketing

Scorecard ........................................... 97
Figure 34 A Marketing Knowledge Hierarchy ... 100
Figure 35 Definition of a Campaign Manager ... 109
Figure 36 The Most Effective Campaign

Managers Have These Traits in
Common ............................................ 111
Figure 37 Example of a Value Proposition

Based on a Real Product ................... 144
Figure 38 Awareness Program Example:

Venues for Thought Leadership ........ 149
Figure 39 Competitive Replacement Program:

Unseating a Competitor ..................... 150
Figure 40 Cross-sell/Up-sell Program:

Promoting Product Y to Product X
Customers ......................................... 151
Marketing Campaign Development xiii

Figure 41 Migration Program Example:
Upgrading Customers from
Version 5.x to Version 6.0 Program ... 152
Figure 42 New Customer Acquisition Program . 153
Figure 43 Nurture Program: Nurturing the

Prospect Database ............................ 154
Figure 44 Renewal Program: a License

Renewal Program .............................. 155
xiv Figures
I n t r o d u c t i o n
While many of us will recognize a good,

well-thought-out marketing campaign when we
see one, the single, basic truth about world-class
marketing campaign development is that it is
easy to say, but hard to do. It is hard to do
because we all like to take short-cuts. I hear the
lament all too often: “I'm over-worked and don't
have the time to think strategically,” or “Planning
is overrated. I just need to get these projects
done.” As a result, we take short-cuts like
“Ready, fire, aim.” Lack of planning is the slippery
slope that leads to wasteful marketing. Then one
day we get the call from the corner office to come
and explain why our marketing efforts did not
produce the desired results.
Luckily, developing world-class marketing

campaigns is achievable for any marketing team.
Successful marketing requires following a disci-
plined, systematic approach to working
cross-functionally and cross-regionally in order
to prioritize marketing objectives, design a cus-
tomer-engaging go-to-market strategy, and
execute the plan. This book is your guide. It will
show you how to optimize your marketing efforts
and achieve an even greater return on your
marketing investment.
I've been there. I know. For more than 20 years

I've worked the angles of campaign manage-
ment. I've led a team of go-to-market strategists
at Hewlett-Packard, guided a worldwide organi-
zation to tailor global strategies for regional
application at Sun, and coordinated a team of
corporate marketing experts to execute specific
campaigns at Ariba. I've experienced the
Marketing Campaign Development 1

euphoria of designing marketing campaigns that
produced wildly successful response rates. And,
I've earned battle scars with campaigns that
were a disaster. In each case, I paid attention to
noting why some worked and others didn't. Over
the years I've collected and shared campaign
development best practices with companies,
clients, and colleagues. The result of this
research is now captured in this book.
This book is not about marketing theory. It's a

practical, pragmatic “how to” book designed for
hi-tech marketing leaders, as well as corporate,
regional, and marketing operations managers at
every level. If you play a role in the development
and execution of marketing campaigns, this book
is for you.
This unique book takes you step-by-step through

the disciplined, yet practical, process of architect-
ing truly integrated marketing communications
plans that work. In it, you will find a prescription for
building a successful, repeatable campaign devel-
opment process, including the necessary
templates and helpful, practical techniques. The
templates are also available online at:
www.kickstartall.com/campaign_development.html
Good luck and good selling!
2 Introduction
C h a p t e r
1 The Truth about

Campaign
Development
In this chapter we describe what campaign devel-

opment is and what it is not. We'll also define key
terms and set some expectations for the results
that companies can receive by embracing these
best practices.
“In order to improve your game, you must study

the endgame before everything else, for whereas
the endings can be studied and mastered by
themselves, the middle game and the opening
must be studied in relation to the endgame.” 1
Jose Raul Capablanca—one of the world's first

chess grandmasters
Why is campaign
development important?
Good marketing can be equated to playing chess.
Chess grandmasters are winners because they
have been trained to think several moves ahead.
And in this planning they are able to react to their
1. Chess-poster.com, http://tinyurl.com/qfaqm

opponents' moves with skill and finesse. They study the situation,
making note of possible moves and then follow-on moves. They antici-
pate reactions, and then act accordingly. This very same approach is
what separates the best marketing campaigns from the rest.
In 1990 the Washington Post ran an article about the increasing level
of noise in the marketplace.2 In those pre-Internet days, they estimated
that the average person, you and I, received more than 3,000
messages from companies every day. To make matters worse, 99% of
these messages were irrelevant to the people who heard them. These
messages bombarded us from the moment we woke up to the sound
of the alarm clock radio. They hammered at us through newspapers,
magazines, billboards. They echoed through word-of-mouth, televi-
sion, even product placements in movies. In total, the result was three
thousand drummers trying to get our attention. Then along came the
Internet. Some estimates place today's noise level at more than 10,000
messages every day.
What does this mean to us marketers? It means that we must take

extra care to make sure that every message we communicate and
every marketing vehicle we choose is relevant and meaningful to our
target audience. It's not about mass marketing any more. It's not even
about niche marketing. It's about promoting a personal dialog via
one-on-one marketing techniques that speak to the needs of prospects
and customers, anticipate their reactions, and get results.
The world is our chess board; the marketing vehicles are

our chess pieces.
We must fight the temptation of blasting irrelevant messages to large

groups of people and instead become relevant to our target audiences.
We can only hope to achieve success if we are thoughtful and pay
attention to what we are saying, and when and how we are delivering
the message. Success today requires marketers to apply the discipline
of campaign development to better our chances of being able to cut
through the clutter and be heard. This is how we will win marketing's
chess game.
2. Washington Post, Ads: They're Everywhere! By Paula Span, April 28,

1990, page c.01.
2 Chapter 1: The Truth about Campaign Development

Sun Microsystems: a case study
In January 1997, I worked for Sun as one of its first marketing
strategists and campaign managers. After careful investigation of the
trends driving what would become the dotcom boom, we concluded
that:
1. 75% of all servers running the Internet were running the Sun
Solaris operating system, and
2. Nobody knew it.
Back in 1997, Sun was most commonly recognized as the provider of

technical workstations. CEO Scott McNealy saw an opportunity to
become more: for Sun to become the “Internet foundation.” The first
step in changing the rules was not to invent a new product, but to
change the way Sun talked about itself and marketed its solutions. To
achieve this positioning shift, Sun embarked on a two-phased
marketing campaign that would first create awareness of Sun as the
backbone of the Internet and then reposition Sun as a thought leader
on business requirements for leveraging the Internet.
But this new marketing campaign wouldn't just magically appear. It

would require a new customer-centric process for developing a
marketing campaign. This was a significant change from the
product-focused campaigns of the past. Sun's executive team took the
following action:
• Formation of a new team: Instead of the usual product-focused

marketing teams dictating marketing tactics, they anointed a virtual
cross-functional, cross-geography marketing team that would be
held accountable for architecting and executing an awareness
campaign. The goal of this new type of campaign was to put Sun
in a thought leadership position regarding “all things Internet.”
• Goals made visible: McNealy, with management support at every

level, introduced this team and its goals to the rest of Sun.
• Introduction of the campaign manager: The vice president of

global marketing introduced the role of the campaign manager, a
new role within Sun, to guide the effort to unite/support a worldwide
marketing team.

• Timeline defined: Competitive threats were many, and the window
of opportunity was narrow. This team was given 90 days to develop
the marketing strategy and a tactical plan for phase 1.
This new process gave birth to Sun's first truly integrated global
marketing campaign. It was called the WebTone campaign. The word
“WebTone” was defined to be “the 21st century Internet equivalent to
today's dialtone.” McNealy described this concept at every opportunity.
“In today's world, people pick up a phone, hear a dial tone, then
communicate instantaneously around the world—in fact, you “boot”
your telephone by just picking it up. Some companies are already
taking advantage of a computing network without technologic,
geographic or time barriers—a network over which partners,
customers and employees can collaborate at any time, from anywhere,
with anyone. To gain that competitive advantage, businesses are
turning to the Internet, and Sun is providing the network foundation and
delivering the continuous WebTone that makes it all possible.”
3
Scott McNealy
The campaign development team understood that success would not

be achieved overnight. Changing market perception would take 18
months to two years. It became immediately clear that their first
challenge was to avoid the temptation to execute tactics for the sake of
executing tactics. There were hundreds of marketing activities that
could be performed. Everyone had his or her pet project. But throwing
marketing efforts and dollars at everything would have been like
tossing lit matches into the wind hoping one created a fire, burned
brightly, and got noticed.
To ignite success that was worthy of attention with press and analysts
as well as prospects and customers, the team knew they had to
prioritize and understand their target audiences first. Only then
3. Businesswire, “Sun reveals software strategy for establishing “WebTone”

future of computing; Leading the charge to Java-ready information-efficient
networks,” April 15, 1997

would they be able to craft a story that would capture interest and
speak to the relevance and opportunity that Internet computing
provided. The first questions that needed to be answered included:
1. Who are our primary target audiences and what are their
business pain points?
2. How can we help them gain competitive advantage using the
Internet more than any competitive alternative?
3. What is the most effective way of engaging with these audiences
to tell them our story and nurture a dialog with them?
AWARENESS INTEREST CONSIDERATION BUY/RENEW
Program: WebTone Awareness
Program: Solaris Repositioning Awareness
Program: Microsoft Competitive Replacement
Program: New Customer Acquisition via Solaris on Intel
Program: New OEM & Partner

Acquisition – US & Japan
Figure 1: Sun's WebTone Marketing Campaign Map
After careful consideration and analysis, the team put forth a strategy
to break the WebTone campaign into two phases. The first phase was
focused on establishing awareness and credibility for Sun in the
Internet space. Five marketing programs were selected that, when
concurrently executed, would show that Sun had the business
expertise as well as the technological expertise to truly be a leader in
this space (see Figure 1).

With the campaign strategy now identified and agreed upon, marketing
creativity blossomed. Comprised within each of these five supporting
programs was a small, but carefully scoped, series of marketing
activities. Some of these were routine, others were not. Traditional
marketing activities included: print and radio advertising that built on
itself (like chapters in a book) over nine months; a new website and
collateral materials; tightly-knitted sales messaging and training. But,
creativity took a leap forward with the pursuit of new activities that had
never been done before at Sun. Some of these included:
• An analyst treat: Sun created “Inside Sun Software Days”—new

analyst events designed to nurture one-on-one relationships with
key analysts. These “open kimono” meetings, held semi-annually
at Sun's Menlo Park headquarters, gave analysts a wider, deeper
look at Sun's R&D and operating priorities. Each of these events
was designed to specifically highlight the commitment Sun was
making to the WebTone strategy.
• New approach to direct marketing: Instead of one “catch all”

product-focused direct mail project, Sun executed an approach to
reach three audiences separately but simultaneously: CIOs,
line-of-business managers, and IT staff. Each target audience
received a unique version of a common offer and action plan. Since
these three audiences were involved in the sales decision, this
direct marketing strategy actively created a one-on-one dialog with
each, then encouraged the three audience members to put their
pieces together to gain the ultimate benefit.
• Maintaining the drum beat: Every speech that McNealy and other
top execs made referenced the WebTone. For the next 18 months,
every director, when interviewed about their business line, also
referenced the WebTone strategy and highlighted how their
products fit within it.
• Worldwide multi-faceted customer reference activities: Key

customers were hand-selected to reinforce specific messaging.
These customer stories were executed at precise times during the
next year in order to keep a running stream of customer
momentum.

Sun's WebTone strategy unfolded like rolling thunder. A snapshot of
the initial launch plan is shown in Figure 2. The development of the
WebTone campaign strategy began on January 2nd. Execution of
activities began April 15 and the drum beat continued for nine months.
This WebTone launch plan was designed not to tell the WebTone story
all at once, but over time.
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5NIXFORTECHIES 2%0/3)4)/.).' )NTERNETFOUNDATION
,IKECHAPTERSINABOOK3UNSSTORYUNFOLDEDOVERMONTHS
Figure 2: Sun's WebTone Tactical Launch Plan (Phase 1)
Results
McNealy and his team recognized that the stakes were higher. A new
approach to marketing was required. Only after the WebTone
campaign objective, strategy, and campaign/launch plan (high-level)
were approved did the team focus on the execution pieces. Had the
marketing team jumped prematurely to execution before developing a
thoughtful marketing strategy, these carefully targeted, creative,
impactful marketing programs and activities would have been missed.

The WebTone campaign was wildly successful on all accounts. This
new approach to campaign development was soon adopted throughout
Sun, including its new Java business unit. Some of the results obtained
included:
• 14% increase in annual revenue, driven in part by the WebTone

campaign as recognized in the annual report, making Sun a
$9.7 billion company by end of fiscal year 19984
• 90 days to execution! WebTone became the rallying cry.
– Process initiated January 2
– 30 days to get to Gate 1 (campaign strategy review with Sun’s

executive team)
– 15 days after that to get to Gate 2 (final approval of phase I tactics)
– Execution plans laid out in detail in time for the first “launch” which
took place April 15
• 20-30% faster execution times (with much less frustration!) for all
marketing activities because the strategy and messaging were
approved before creative began (i.e., fewer rewrites were
required).
• 3X more press coverage in the following six months than the

previous period because the messaging was consistent, focused,
and relevant.
• The 1st of many: The success of the WebTone campaign led to

others, including the “We put the dot in dotcom” campaign.
• Higher team morale: The success of the WebTone campaign

created a buzz internally. Marketing clearly made a difference, and
people took notice.
4. Sun Microsystems, Inc. 1998 Annual Report, pages 2, 8, “That's why so

much of our efforts this year has been directed toward what we call the
WebTone.”

Introducing the Integrated Marketing Plan
(IMP) template
The centerpiece of the campaign development process is the
Integrated Marketing Plan, or IMP. (A template for the IMP is included
in the appendix and available online at www.kickstartall.com/
campaign_development.html).
Some organizations may prefer to use the term “marketing plan” or “go
to market plan.” Semantics aside, their purpose is the same as the
IMPs. Regardless of which term you prefer, the best practices we will
explore in this book equally apply.
There is a lot of confusion about what a good IMP is versus what it is

not. In this book, we’ll explore what distinguishes a good plan from a
dangerous plan, and what marketing leaders need to know. But, before
we jump to filling in the blanks, let’s take a moment to understand the
true value within any IMP. It is not just a document to be filled in.
Building an integrated marketing plan means integrating the ways a

company talks to people who buy or don’t buy based on what they see,
hear, feel, etc. It means planning a dialog to elicit a response, not just
conducting a monologue. It means being accountable for results, not
just readership scores or counting web hits. And it means delivering a
return on investment, not just spending a budget. Planning your
integrated marketing communications campaigns is exciting. In today’s
competitive business world, it’s not optional.
So, how do you begin to build an IMP? First off, the IMP is only as good as
the collaborative dialog used to create it. By that, I mean that the objectives
of a disciplined campaign development process that produces the IMP are:
1. To guide executive decision-making surrounding the campaign

creation, evolution, and its execution
2. To drive purposeful, cross-organization, worldwide collaboration in
order to align everyone behind a common set of goals and
expectations
3. To focus worldwide marketing on the adoption of a consistent
campaign development and management process, including
terminology and nomenclature

The completed and approved IMP is the final deliverable in the
campaign development process. There will be lots of corollary
documents created during the development process: messaging
matrices, target audience profiles, budget analysis, product definitions,
to name only a few. However, the final IMP will become the executive
summary summarizing the objectives, strategy, campaign map, and
assumptions for each major campaign. It becomes the campaign bible,
the central reference that will keep the execution team on strategy. To
that end, the IMP helps ensure that all marketing players sing off the
same song sheet.
Terminology
One last piece of background we need before we jump into the process
is campaign-related terminology. World-class marketers embrace a
campaign hierarchy that helps them maintain the focus and clarity of
their efforts (see Figure 3).
Singular and focused

Campaign
theme or
central objective
A manageable few
Programs
Many
Activities & Offers
The marketing plan is comprised of the entire set of campaign triangles.
Figure 3: Understanding the Campaign Hierarchy of

Campaigns, Programs, Activities, and Offers

As such, the campaign development process showcased in this book
defines the components of the campaign as follows:
Campaign: The combination of marketing programs that support an

overarching campaign objective. If we were to use a military analogy,
the campaign would indicate the “hill we are going to take.” It doesn’t
tell how the hill will be taken, but it does specify direction and an
umbrella business objective. Campaigns may be driven around
customer business needs, solution sets, competitive threats, or
company/product repositioning.
Example: The Sun WebTone campaign was a “thought leadership”

campaign designed to reposition the company.
Programs: A collection of marketing activities and offers that are

grouped together to achieve a specific marketing objective. Program
types include awareness, competitive replacement, cross-sell/up-sell,
migration, new customer acquisition, nurturing, and renewal.
Example: A cross-sell/up-sell program designed to promote a new

product bundle.
Activities: The specific marketing vehicles that deliver an offer.
Example: A webcast that discusses CIO business problems and

solution alternatives.
Offer: The specific call-to-action that supports a program and its

objectives. This is the deliverable that the target audience will receive.
Example: A solution-focused whitepaper the prospect receives as a

result of attending the aforementioned webinar.

Campaigns versus activities
The number of campaigns your marketing team will be working on
depends on your business. But keep in mind that campaigns are not
intended to be solely product based; not every product requires its own
campaign. Conversely, a good, well-structured campaign may include
many products.
Most teams I’ve worked with started out trying to juggle as many as 10
campaigns, but quickly reduced that number to five or fewer, combining
campaigns or eliminating them due to redundancy or because they
ended up being of secondary importance. Campaigns are complex,
multi-faceted engagement models. Because of this, a campaign must
have a clear and direct linkage to the programs, activities and offers
that support the achievement of the campaign’s objectives. Because of
this complexity, I’ve always found that it is better to have fewer
campaigns than many. This drives focus. And focus leads to crisper
messages aimed at targeted market segments, tighter differentiation,
and higher valued interaction with customers and prospects.
All campaigns will have marketing activities associated with them.

However, not all marketing activities will be tied to a campaign. How
can this be? This is okay and even expected. Standard business basics
like company newsletters, the annual report, customary customer
support materials and tools are accepted business practices and need
not be force-fit into a campaign structure. We don’t need to waste our
time forcing all activities into the campaign model. If you have routine
marketing tactics that are working well, then we don’t need to reinvent
them within the campaign process. We want to save our campaign
energy for the critical marketing initiatives that will make the most
difference to your prospects, customers, and to your sales team.
On your mark. Get set. Go!

This book is about applying the practical lessons learned by Sun and best
practices adopted by hi-tech companies such as Aspect, Genesys,
Hewlett-Packard, Informatica, and Symantec, and scores of others. Every
company is different. But, I guarantee you that 80% of the process steps,
templates, and techniques included in this book can be applied to your
business with great success. For the other 20%, some customization will
be required. This book will help you assess your own needs so you can
begin putting these best practices to use, starting today.

C h a p t e r
2 Secrets of a
Best-in-Class
Campaign
Development Process
The campaign development process is designed

to drive, encourage, and optimize collaboration
and teamwork across the organization. This
chapter describes the basic process being used
today by a number of leading high technology
companies. Process flow charts, best practices,
and practical tips and tricks are shared at each
step in the process.
“If you do your homework properly in the development

of the communication strategy, it will result in a
sharper, more persuasive integrated selling message
directed to the most likely prospect.” 5
Don E. Schultz, Professor of Advertising and
Integrated Marketing Communications,
Northwestern University
5. Don E. Schultz, Stanley I. Tannenbaum, Robert F.

Lauterborn, Integrated Marketing Communications,
page 65-66, NTB Business Books, 1993

What is the campaign development
process, and what triggers it?
Whether your company is executing marketing activities according to a
pre-defined plan or via an ad-hoc sixth sense, you are following a
campaign development process. A “campaign development process”
includes the steps you and your team go through to decide what
marketing activity to do when and for which audience. Every company
has a process, but they may not recognize it as such. What’s more,
higher ROI gains are achieved when using processes that are
thoughtfully constructed versus those that aren’t.
“But do I need to follow this process for every marketing campaign?” I

hear you ask. The campaign development process we’re talking about
is best used for only the most strategic, complex, high-stakes
initiatives. By that I mean entry into a new market or aggressively
stealing market share from a competitor. For campaigns that are
“business as usual,” this process is overkill. Campaigns related to
business basics, such as introducing a new set of features or new
support options do not require as rigorous a process as described
here.
After 20 years of in-the-trenches experience with a number of hi-tech

companies as an employee and a consultant, I have discovered
several secrets about what type of campaign development process
produces consistently better results. Better quality leads, higher
awareness levels, improved customer loyalty, and the highest
marketing ROI are almost always achieved when marketing functional
and regional experts and leaders participate in a structured campaign
development process before jumping to the execution. To use another
military analogy, this planning process follows the “ready, aim, fire”
approach whereby military leaders decide what hill to take and plan
how they will take it, prior to deploying the ground forces. The
alternative is the “ready, fire, aim” approach which leads to frustration
and wasted resources when campaigns have to be redesigned when
the hills are re-prioritized but the ground troops have already been
deployed.
16 Chapter 2: Secrets of a Best-in-Class Campaign Development Process

The most important benefit in embracing a campaign
development process is that it invites cross-functional
participation.
By its nature, cross-functional participation avoids the problems

associated with dictating marketing tactics to the team that they may
not understand or agree with based on their own experiences. In the
end, when there is a lack of participation in building a balanced
campaign strategy, the resulting tactics appear random and
unconnected. They fail to produce results or worse, confuse the
market.
This chapter is broken down into three parts: an overview of the

process, a summary of key roles and responsibilities amongst team
members, and answers to some common questions. Here, we’ll lay out
the basic steps that form the best, most collaborative campaign devel-
opment process.
Part 1: Overview of the campaign

development process
From campaign kickoff to final sign-off
A company’s business planning cycle is ongoing (see Figure 4). It

begins with the strategic foundation (box #1) which specifies the
business goals that must be met, and when they must be met. But, it
doesn’t prescribe how. The “how” will be developed in the campaign
development planning phase (box #2), which is the focus of this book.
Once the campaign plan (or integrated marketing plan) has been
established, the company moves into the execution phase (box #3). All
the while, careful attention is being paid to the reporting of results and
fine tuning of the programs (box #4). The final analysis then becomes
an input into the next business planning cycle.

Figure 4: A Company's Business Planning Cycle
We will assume that a company’s strategic foundation has already

been established and well communicated to the marketing and sales
teams. This is an important expectation because campaigns that are
not well-grounded end up wasting resources, creating internal
frustration, and confusing the target market.
How the most successful companies

develop their best campaign plans
First off, I should explain that the campaign development process is not
an isolated process. In fact, it is an overlay to the annual business
planning, department planning, and budgeting processes that exist in
almost every company, large or small. All senior marketing executives
ask their directors and department heads to submit a functional plan
once a year. This functional plan includes a summary of programs or
tactics they plan on executing, along with headcount and budget

requirements. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the marketing managers
will produce their piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, it is not always
clear what the puzzle will look like when the pieces are put together.
This is where the campaign development process comes into play.
When a campaign development process is initiated, it forces the
marketing functions to integrate their efforts to a much greater degree.
The result is the formation of marketing functional plans that fit together
cleanly to produce a crisp, clear picture.
The campaign development process is about integration, team work,

and cross-functional partnership. In fact, the process is not worked
for process' sake; it’s worked to encourage the best, most insightful,
most collaborative discussions so optimal marketing mix decisions are
always reached (see Figure 5). This collaboration results in a
360-degree view of the marketing challenge and opportunity. Through
the magic of working the process, all of the marketing media managers
(e.g., press relations manager, advertising manager) come together to
reinforce and drive an ongoing, meaningful dialog with a prospect or
customer that will grow over time and result in a higher degree of
customer loyalty.
Why is a formal campaign development process

important?
1. It drives purposeful, cross-organization, worldwide

collaboration and teamwork.
2. It establishes a consistent, systematic approach for
synchronizing multiple (and possibly competing)
campaigns.
3. It speeds time-to-production and lowers the
development costs of all marketing materials because
costly rewrites are avoided.
Figure 5: Campaign Development Process
When a consistent, systematic process is not followed, team members

remain siloed. They spend a lot of time debating priorities, strategies,
and time tables. Frustration levels rise because decisions are

second-guessed. And, the creation of marketing deliverables from
press releases to website and collateral design take multiple iterations
that would have been unneeded if a stable strategy and direction had
been agreed to and communicated widely before production began.
Breaking down the basic campaign

development process
Although each company will have a slightly different campaign
development process, there are three primary stages that all
processes have in common: Kickoff, Synchronization, and Decision
(see Figure 6).
Kickoff meetings literally mark the beginning of the collaborative

campaign development process. Synchronization meetings are tools
used to help the team develop the IMP and address gaps, issues, and
road blocks. Because resources are limited and business priorities
must be established, a campaign management steering committee is
required to provide the proper guidance. This steering committee is
designed and run similarly to the product development steering
committee. It is an executive body responsible for approving integrated
marketing plans for the most strategic campaigns. It is also a point of
escalation for resource and budget issues.

Figure 6: Three Phases of the Campaign Development
Process
Marketing campaigns don’t build themselves. And, they are not built by
a single person. However, they are driven by an anointed campaign
manager who has the responsibility and authority for bringing people
together to tackle the marketing opportunity. It is critical to understand
that while led by a campaign manager, the campaign strategy and
tactical plan will be developed by a team via this collaborative process.
The designated campaign manager may reside in product marketing,
corporate marketing or field marketing. The role of the campaign
manager is further explored in Chapter 7.

The Kickoff Meeting: prelude to planning
Purpose: To educate, inform, and align the marketing team

Meeting host: Campaign manager
Participants: A representative from each corporate
marketing discipline, product marketing, field or regional
marketing and sales
Agenda: To introduce the campaign and walk through the
primary data and background that is required in order for the
functions/regions to develop specific programs to support
the campaign.
Meeting design: Lecture and Q&A
Meeting length: 1-2 hours
The campaign development process officially starts with a public

kickoff meeting led by the designated campaign manager. However,
before the kickoff meeting is held, some careful preparation is required.
In most cases, the CMO or VP of marketing will have named and intro-
duced the marketing campaign concept (sometimes referred to as ini-
tiatives) for the fiscal year and then anointed a campaign manager to
lead each campaign.
The campaign manager’s first duty is to research the opportunity,

gather key market and competitive information, and then work with the
executive team to confirm the specific goals, objectives, general
resource requirements (including rough budget guidelines), and timing
of the campaign. This information becomes the solid foundation upon
which the campaign details will be built. To be sure, the campaign
manager does not do this in isolation. The best campaign managers
are politically-savvy marketing leaders; they will interview stakeholders
and experts inside and outside the company in order to scope the
campaign appropriately. With this information in hand, the campaign
manager is ready to introduce the full campaign scope to the rest of the
global marketing team. This takes place during the kickoff meeting.

It is important to understand that the kickoff meeting is not about
dictating or even brainstorming the marketing tactics (That happens
later.) Instead, the kickoff meeting is a prelude to planning. The
campaign manager uses this meeting to educate, inform, and direct a
larger team of marketing experts who will be called upon to execute the
campaign. The campaign manager will also describe the process they
will follow during the coming weeks. (See Chapters 4 and 5 for more
detail.)
One of the best examples of a kickoff meeting was at Sun where the
campaign manager hosted a structured meeting in a style similar to a
press briefing. His agenda was clear and concise; he included guest
speakers from product marketing to describe the target audience, and
a speaker from analyst relations to update the team on a recent analyst
report relevant to the industry. There was also plenty of time for
questions and answers. During this meeting, he distributed a col-
or-coded, bound set of reference materials that gave further details on
the campaign objectives, target audience segmentation, product value
proposition, customer references, relevant benchmark statistics, testi-
monials, and evidence to support their claims of product performance.
In short, by the time the meeting concluded, all representatives of his
extended team had 80% of the information they would need in order to
draft a recommendation for how their function could support the overall
campaign. The final 20% would be worked out as team members col-
laborated in the following weeks. An example of a typical agenda for a
kickoff meeting is shown in Figure 7.
The best time to hold a kickoff meeting

Kickoff meetings are usually either tied to the annual planning process
or to a specific product launch plan. A typical campaign development
process can take between eight and 12 weeks, depending on the
complexity of the campaign. Ideally, from a timing standpoint, a typical
kickoff meeting is held four to six months prior to the launch/execution
date. This allows plenty of time for the team to work the details of the
activities and offers once the strategy has been set. (As you will recall
with the WebTone example in Chapter 2, the planning-to-first-execu-
tion timeline was 90 days: the kickoff meeting was held on January 2,
with the first tactical launch executed on April 15.)

Integrated Marketing Plan – Kickoff Meeting Agenda
Welcome and description of the marketing campaign (15 minutes)
• Introduction of the campaign name including a short description
• High-level marketing goals (upon which the success of the
campaign will be judged)
• Time table indicating the duration of the campaign and the targeted
launch date
Setting the stage (60 minutes)
• Market backgrounder
– Target market segmentation, including the business problem
the target audiences are trying to solve
– Current (or near future) competitive alternatives
– Partner or channel implications
– Q&A
• Relevant product information
– Product value proposition (as relevant to the intended target
audience)
– Product launch plan (if this is for a new product introduction)
– Product roadmap (if multiple releases are going to be
introduced during the campaign's time frame)
– Q&A
Next steps (15 minutes)
• Action items for team members
• Where to get additional information
• Campaign development timeline
• Q&A
Figure 7: A Typical Agenda for a Kickoff Meeting
In reality, the team may not have the luxury of this much time. In that
case, it is best to host a kickoff meeting as soon as possible after the
executive direction has been communicated. But, keep in mind that a
well-run kickoff meeting is not just thrown together. It is important that
the campaign manager be well prepared to share this information in a
coordinated, confident manner. Because businesses are moving
quickly, the market analysis may not yet be complete in time for the
kickoff meeting. However, there must be a reasonable amount of
confidence in the available data and executive sponsorship in order for
the campaign to be kicked off.

Who attends the kickoff meeting?
In general, the kickoff meeting is open to anyone who has a need or an
interest in the campaign. Since the objective is to educate, inform, and
guide, the more widely this information is shared, the better.
Required attendees usually include:
• Product marketing representative(s)
• Partner and channel marketing representative(s)
• Corporate marketing functional representatives from
– Advertising
– Press relations
– Analyst relations
– Direct marketing
– Event marketing
– Collateral
– Web marketing
• Regional marketing representatives
– Americas
– Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)
– Asia Pacific
– Japan
• Sales representative or sponsor
Optional attendees may include executives, managers, and individual

contributors throughout the organization including customer support,
inside sales, and product management.

Tips & Tricks for avoiding the three most common kickoff meeting
disasters:
1. Failing to hold a kickoff meeting: When campaign managers

decide they don’t need one, they fail to engage the team that will
be responsible for executing the marketing tactics. As such, the
individuals never develop a common frame of reference, nor do
they feel that they are part a larger team with a common goal.
This lack-of-connection encourages siloed behavior and the
development of discrete marketing tactics that are not integrated.
It also encourages regions to (continue to) act independently
from headquarters.
2. Dictating the details of the marketing plan: Sometimes

campaign managers go too far and prescribe specific marketing
tactics at this meeting. The meeting and their role then become
political because this approach implies the campaign manager
has direct authority over the team, which is not usually true. Thus,
it causes all kinds of frustration and angst within the team.
A good campaign manager will likely have some rich insight and
knowledge about the market, region, or the marketing activities
which will apply best. But, an experienced campaign manager will
know that campaigns for large, multinational companies are
complex by nature and must have cross-functional cooperation in
order to develop and then execute a balanced campaign. He or she
will invite the appropriate individuals to participate in the planning
process, thereby gaining their wisdom, knowledge, and most
importantly their commitment to execute the plan with their full
energy and a positive attitude.
3. Failure to describe the process: Whether or not this is the first

time the team has gone through the campaign development
process, the campaign manager must always end their meeting
with a clear roadmap of next steps so the team members know
what is expected of them. Milestones, due dates, and timetables
must be clearly communicated. If team members leave the
meeting unclear on what they need to do next, the meeting has
failed.

Synchronization Meetings: building the
IMP
Purpose: To develop a working draft of the Integrated

Marketing Plan
Meeting facilitator: Campaign manager
Participants: A representative from each corporate
marketing discipline, product marketing, field or regional
marketing and sales.
Agenda: For the marketing media experts to share program
recommendations, identify gaps, and gather feedback on
where/how their function can support the achievement of the
campaign objective.
Meeting design: Collaborative working sessions conducted
over several weeks.
Meeting length: 4 – 8 hours each, depending on the agenda
What are synchronization meetings?

Having conducted the kickoff meeting, the team is now grounded in a
common understanding of the marketing opportunity and the
campaign-level goals. With that as background, the focus of the next
eight–twelve weeks will be on developing an IMP.
A synchronization meeting is a structured brainstorming, collaborative

session where the team comes together to get real work done in
constructing the IMP. An IMP template is provided so team members
can collect their thoughts and share recommendations (e.g., functional
goals, objectives, metrics, programs and activities). As each member
presents their material, the others ask questions, helping to identify
gaps and overlaps and ultimately construct a comprehensive
campaign.

Throughout this process, there will be a series of synchronization
meetings, some formal, some informal. Whereas formal synchroniza-
tion meetings are structured as ½ day or day-long practical working
sessions, informal synchronizations may take place daily between in-
dividuals. There is no question that some of the most insightful recom-
mendations and creative ideas will be generated in these collaborative
sessions. Depending on the complexity of the campaign, more or fewer
of these synchronization meetings will be required.
Each formal synchronization meeting will be moderated by the

campaign manager. Participants include functional and regional repre-
sentatives. The objectives of the synchronization meeting series
include:
To develop the first or subsequent draft of the IMP
• To hear functional/regional recommendations and build a compre-

hensive view of the total campaign and the supporting programs (at
a high level)
• To look for gaps, potential synergies with other campaigns, as well

as risks and dependencies
• To discuss and debate implications and areas for further refine-

ment
• To get a rough idea of resource and budget requirements
Four types of synchronization meetings

Depending on the complexity of the campaign or the extent of the
global reach of the campaign, multiple synchronization meetings may
be required. There are four types of synchronization meetings; some
of these may be combined.
By synchronizing the media, you are deploying a cohesive

sustained dialog rather than the fragmented scattershot of
messages often experienced by customers or prospects.

Synchronization Meeting #1: Architecting the campaign map
This is the first synchronization meeting and usually takes place one
week after the kickoff meeting. The focus of this meeting is on the
strategy and programs (not the tactics) that support the campaign. The
goal is to produce a campaign map – literally a mapping of the set of
agreed-upon programs that will comprise the overall campaign. (Recall
the WebTone campaign map shown in Figure 1.) Chapter 4 explores
the concept and purpose of the campaign map. The goal of
synchronization meeting #1 is to rally the team in support of which, and
how many, of these programs are necessary to achieve the campaign’s
objective.
Synchronization Meeting #2: Aligning multiple campaigns

Synchronization meeting #2 is a reality check. When companies are
running multiple campaigns, it makes sense to synchronize the
campaigns to understand where they overlap. Overlaps can commonly
occur with common target audiences, products, vehicles, and
timeframes. For example, one company was running five campaigns
thought to be unique. However, as the campaign maps for each were
developed, they discovered that three of the campaigns were targeting
the same audiences (CIOs of Fortune 500 companies) at the same
time (April) with some of the same products. By discovering this
overlap, they decided to combine two of the three campaigns, and to
shift the third campaign for execution later in the year.
With the campaign map now illustrated, an executive summary of the

campaign strategy is produced and then shared with the steering
committee at the Gate 1 review meeting. Once approved, the team is
ready to prescribe the supporting activities and offers that will make up
each supporting program. Those will be generated during the
synchronization #3 meeting.
Synchronization Meeting #3: Developing program blueprints

Synchronization meeting #3 is about diving into the specific activities
and offers that make up each of the recommended programs. As such,
each program will have a blueprint that shows how the combination of
media types is used to create a personalized, engaging dialog with the
intended audience. Chapter 5 introduces the blueprint concept and

details the seven basic program blueprint types. The campaign team
will work from these models to determine which ones apply and then
customize them to meet their specific market needs.
It is important to understand that we are still in the planning stage – not

the execution stage. This means that we want to map out a path for
engaging a specific target audience so as to communicate a specific
message or message theme. This is not about tactical planning where
we list out every action item for every email that will be deployed during
the course of the program. Those tactics will be captured, managed,
and monitored during the execution phase of the campaign; but that
level of detail is not appropriate during the planning process.
Synchronization Meeting #4: Aligning regional activities

Synchronization meeting #4 is also a reality check. When multiple
campaigns are intended to be introduced within a region at the same
time, the execution of those activities may be constrained by the limited
regional resources. To help avoid miss-set expectations and disap-
pointment, a separate synchronization meeting may be needed for
regional managers to prioritize the multiple campaigns and their sup-
porting programs. Conducting this synchronization meeting early can
help teams avoid producing blueprints that will never be acted upon in
the regions.
Three secrets for managing successful synchronization

meetings
Synchronization meetings can be wildly successful or downright
painful. What makes the difference? The secrets to success are the
following:
1. Structured meetings: The campaign manager provides struc-

ture to the work session. This means that the campaign manager
will act as a moderator and will develop a crisp agenda with a
clearly-stated meeting objective. The campaign manager en-
sures that all participants have a chance to contribute and be
heard. They are also in charge of taking notes and capturing ac-
tion items.

2. Active participation: Team members are active participants in
the meeting, assisting the campaign manager at each stage of
the campaign development process. All participants come pre-
pared to share their insights and recommendations, having com-
pleted any assigned pre-work.
3. Professional engagement: Only constructive dialog is allowed.

Ground rules are set and reinforced to encourage open and hon-
est discussion that is respectful of all team members.
Decision: steering committee review

meetings
Purpose: To gain approval of the IMP at Gate 1 and Gate 2

Meeting host: Chairman of the steering committee, usually
the VP of marketing operations
Participants: Steering committee members
Guests: The campaign manager and selected team
members who will participate in the presentation
Meeting design: Presentation and Q&A
Meeting length: Typically 60 minutes per team presentation
For large multinational companies, marketing campaigns can be

complex and detailed. This is especially tricky when multiple
campaigns may be initiated at the same time with overlapping objec-
tives. When resources are limited, business priorities must be estab-
lished. A campaign management steering committee is required to
provide the proper guidance. As mentioned earlier, the steering
committee is an executive body responsible for approving integrated
marketing plans for the most strategic campaigns. It is also a point of
escalation for resource and budget issues.

The steering committee review is not to be taken lightly. The campaign
team must be fully prepared to present their campaign strategy for
Gate 1 review and then the program details for Gate 2 review. They
must have their facts straight and be prepared to describe and even
defend their recommendations.
Campaign management steering committee, defined:
• Comprised of VPs of marketing operations, product marketing,

marketing communications, field marketing, regional marketing
• Focuses on strategic topics related to marketing messaging,

communications, and customer engagement models and
methodologies
• Makes operational decisions regarding campaign development,

prioritization, regional considerations, and resource allocations
(budget and headcount)
• Reviews and approves (or disapproves) the IMP at two phases:
– Gate 1: approval of the campaign strategy, including the campaign

map
– Gate 2: approval of the program blueprints that include the

recommended activities and offers
Why are there two steering committee reviews?

The objective of the Gate 1 review is to set forth the campaign strategy,
including the resource requirements, necessary for success before
work actually begins on the tactics. Countless hours and dollars have
been lost in marketing activities being developed that later got
cancelled or flat out missed their mark. Gate 1 is intended to help guide
and reinforce team decisions so these precious resources are not
wasted. (See Figure 8 for an example of a typical Gate 1 agenda.) Only
once Gate 1 has been reached and approved, will the teams be
allowed to focus on the specific activities and offers that will comprise
the overall campaign.

Integrated Marketing Plan – Campaign Strategy Review
Agenda – Gate 1
• Campaign name & description
• Campaign objective(s)
• Value proposition
• Campaign map
• Tactical calendar (program view only)
• Rough budget estimate
• Key assumptions
• Synergies with other campaigns
• Open issues requiring steering committee guidance
Figure 8: A Typical Agenda for a Gate 1 Review Meeting
The objective of the Gate 2 review is to roll up all of the program

blueprints (and their activities and offers) to evaluate how they all fit
together. A sample of a Gate 2 agenda is shown in Figure 9.
Integrated Marketing Plan – Program Blueprints Review

Agenda Gate 2
• Summary of revisions from Gate 1 meeting
• Overview of key program blueprints
• Program Executive Summaries
– Program name, description, and objectives
– Program blueprints (showing the connections between
activities and offers)
– Program calendar of major events
• Synergies with other campaigns and/or programs
Figure 9: A Typical Agenda for a Gate 2 Review Meeting

During this review session, campaign teams can and should highlight
gaps and overlaps and risks associated with being able to successfully
deploy the campaign. Occasionally, campaigns will overlap and teams
will be fighting for limited resources. In this forum, the steering
committee can address those issues, make real-time decisions, and
provide final guidance to the team as they prepare to execute the
tactics of the campaign.
In addition to these two formal meetings, the steering committee is a

resource to help resolve escalations. When issues arise due to
changing market dynamics, product road maps, launch plans, etc, the
campaign manager may decide to engage the steering committee to
get guidance and resolve issues earlier rather than later.
Putting it all together

Figure 10 shows the general process steps from the kickoff meeting to
the final steering committee review meeting.
Figure 10: Fundamental Steps in the Complete Campaign

Development Process

Despite these formal steps, much work gets accomplished during
informal and impromptu meetings which I term “mini-syncs.” These
hallway conversations and small group sessions can be incredibly
productive. I’ve observed that cultures that encourage delegation and
personal initiative produce the best plans quickly. It is important to note
that every company will have nuances about this process that will be
unique for their organization. However, the basic process steps will be
very similar.
Part 2: Roles and responsibilities

I am commonly asked to describe the roles and responsibilities of
players involved in this process. Although each company has its own
uniqueness, Figure 11 provides some typical definitions and descrip-
tions that will help you set some team, and individual expectations.
Department Responsibilities
Campaign Responsible for team coordination and managing the development of
Management the IMP. Owner of the IMP process and author of the final IMP document.
Responsible for designing and executing the marketing media strategies

Corporate and tactics (e.g. press releases, global lead generation programs, webinars,
Marketing website, events, advertising).
Responsible for lead qualification and development of viable sales

Field
opportunities; supplements corporate marketing plan with local activities &
Marketing offers (with an effort to leverage corporate marketing resources & materials).
Responsible for sponsoring the overall campaign; ensures alignment with

Marketing Executive
company goals; removes roadblocks.
Responsible for representing partner needs in the campaign

Partner
development process; acts as the interface and liaison between
Marketing corporate marketing and the partners.
Product Marketing Responsible for product strategy, target market segmentation, messaging,
(outbound-focused) and content creation.
Represents sales priorities and objectives; provides input into the campaign
Sales Representative development process; also communicates campaign status to the rest of
the sales team.
Responsible for approving and prioritizing the campaign plans and resolving
Steering Committee
escalated issues that impact the successful execution of the campaign.
Figure 11: Basic Roles and Responsibilities

Part 3: Answers to the four most common
questions about the process
Who is responsible for the campaign development process?

In most cases, a technology company will have a VP or senior director
of marketing operations responsible for constructing the umbrella
campaign development process. This person (or team) will also be
responsible for producing the tools and templates, as well as training
the rest of the organization in how to engage the process. The
campaign managers may or may not report to the operations staff.
Regardless, they will be working together closely to adopt and adapt
the process in real time.
When do you need a campaign manager?

Not all companies may need a formal campaign manager role. Smaller
businesses that sell only a few products to a few audiences may indeed
be able to manage the complexities of their campaigns within the
structure of their current marketing team. However, if yours is a
company with annual revenue of more than $50M, markets in more
than one geographic region, and a marketing budget of any amount,
you can benefit greatly by making use of a campaign manager. Other
factors include your specific campaign or product launch objectives,
the breadth of your product offerings, or the number of targeted market
segments you want to actively pursue. The more strategic or critical
your marketing objectives, the more value a campaign manager can
bring.
There is always a cost inflicted by a lack of strategic forethought and

coordination. Although that cost may be intangible to upper
management, it is nevertheless very real. Once a company reaches
this size and complexity, it is guaranteed that some marketing dollars
will be wasted and opportunities will be missed without the guidance
and marketing discipline a professional campaign manager can bring.

Is the IMP meant to be a tactical marketing plan?
No. Remember, the IMP is not a tactical marketing plan. It is not
intended to be the Gantt chart of all tactics and all action items. There
are other tools better used for that once you pass Gate 2 and then get
into the execution phase (which is outside the scope of the IMP).
Instead, the IMP links activities and offers to programs and campaigns.
Chapter 5 describes the level of detail appropriate in planning
blueprints. For now, don’t get caught in the weeds.
How often do these campaigns get updated?

After an IMP has been approved at Gate 2, you’re now in execution
mode. It’s tempting to think that planning is now complete. But it’s not.
The world continues to evolve and your business conditions will
change too. Therefore, it is best to review the IMP once each quarter,
and plan a formal review with the steering committee every six months.
That way, you have the ability to make changes proactively. The
campaign manager’s job is to keep an eye on the campaign and how
the market is responding to it. He or she will track campaign results and
report back to the steering committee during quarterly or semi-annual
checkpoint meetings.

C h a p t e r
3 Setting the
Foundation of Your
Campaign
Every successful marketing campaign rests on

three solid pillars that will define its strategy: a
focused and concise campaign description, a
clearly-stated, appropriate campaign objective,
and a well-constructed value proposition. Chap-
ter 3 discusses each pillar, offering tips and
tricks to create each and evaluate them for best
performance.
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action

without vision is a nightmare.” 6
Japanese proverb
The three pillars that define a

marketing campaign’s
success
This chapter is about setting clear campaign ob-
jectives, defining the campaign, and constructing
a crisp value proposition before deciding upon
which marketing activities to execute. Because
of today’s fast pace of business, many marketers
6. http://quotes.prolix.nu/Authors/?Japanese_proverb

fall into the trap of rushing to execution without first taking the initial
steps to plan the campaign. As a result, they produce “marketing
popcorn” – activities that are discrete and unconnected. Although each
activity may be highly creative, if they don’t engage the prospect in a
dialog or help move them along their buying process, the activities are
largely a waste of time and money.
Pillar 1: Defining the marketing campaign

The campaign name and description is a very simple concept, yet it is
so simple that it is often overlooked and assumed. Not having a
documented description leads to misconceptions about what it is and
what it is not. An example of a campaign name and description is
shown in Figure 12.
Campaign Name: Securing the Desktop
Campaign Description: For this fiscal year, our “securing the

desktop” story will continue and expand across all segments within
the manufacturing and services industries, not just the small
business/home office sector where we have already gained
traction. Expansion will reach into prioritized industry segments of
the upper mid-market and lower enterprise market and include a
new services bundling of core products with our advanced server
products. This campaign will kickoff in Q2 and run for 18 months.
Figure 12: Example of a Campaign Name and Description
Campaign name: A few words that communicate a theme or focus for

the campaign.
Campaign description: A few sentences describing the campaign

and its context.
Marketing campaigns, as we have said, represent major initiatives

within the company. Usually the CMO or a strategic marketing team will
determine the name and description of the campaign. As significant
energy, personnel, time, and investment will be made available to
support them, there are usually fewer than five campaigns running at
40 Chapter 3: Setting the Foundation of Your Campaign

any given time. This is because campaigns are complex and difficult to
manage more than a few at a time. It is imperative that everyone is
clear on the basic campaign concept; otherwise misalignment and frus-
tration are guaranteed.
Pillar 2: Constructing a “campaign-level”

marketing objective
In the context of this book, the term “campaign” means the grander
scope of the collection of the marketing programs, activities and offers
that will be linked together to drive a campaign-level result. Having said
that, it is important to understand that each element of the campaign
(e.g., each direct mail piece or web promotion) will also have its own
supporting, specific objective. All of those objectives need to add up to
support the campaign-level objective. One way to think about the
campaign-level objective is to project ourselves into the future: once all
the marketing programs, activities, offers have been executed, what do
we hope to accomplish or achieve?
The campaign objective drives the programs

and marketing activities.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding what makes a good cam-

paign-level objective. Because broader metrics can be difficult to
measure, marketers are occasionally drawn to more tactical metrics.
For example, one vice-president of marketing told me that his
campaign objective was to build a website and generate traffic. At the
other extreme, one CMO told me his campaign objective was to
generate $50M in revenue. Both of these examples are wrong for
different reasons, which I will get to shortly. Examples of good
campaign objectives are shown in Figure 13. Notice what these
examples have in common: they are specific, with a number that can
be measured, and a timeframe. These are good examples because
they set a clear context for a variety of supporting marketing programs
and activities.

Examples of good campaign-level marketing objectives
• To grow North American market-share by 15% within 18

months by stealing deals away from competitor X
• To introduce product Y and establish a presence in the
European market with a 15% market-share within 2 years
• To lower cost/lead by $25 and improve marketing conversion
rates by 20% by Q4 for Product Z
Figure 13: Good Campaign-Level Objectives
Now let’s take a look at a couple of poor examples which unfortunately,

are quite common. “Generating traffic” is a poor example of a cam-
paign-level metric because it is not directly tied to a business, financial
or market-share outcome. The common misperception of “traffic
equals sales” has wasted tremendous amounts of business’ capital on
the creation of poor-quality websites that don’t provide relevant infor-
mation or engage the visitor. In addition, some CEOs have developed
negative attitudes towards marketing by concluding that poor
marketing ROI was strictly the result of poor execution rather than lack
of a clear and proper objective. No amount of brilliant execution can
make up for a lackluster, unclear, or erroneous marketing objective.
“Generating $50M” is also a poor example of a campaign-level objec-

tive, but for a different reason. This objective is really a business or
sales objective, not a marketing objective. Marketers must be crystal
clear in identifying metrics and expectations that their actions can
control. In this case, marketing owns only the first steps in the sales
process: typically awareness to lead qualification. The final steps of
generating proposals and closing sales are the responsibility of the
sales team. Hence, to state a marketing campaign objective where
marketing does not have the authority and responsibility to carry it
through to the end is unfair and inappropriate. More on metrics will be
covered in Chapter 6.

Focus and direction come as a result of setting clear, specific
objectives. The campaign objective is the central purpose for the
campaign. It’s a rallying cry for the marketing and sales troops to stand
behind and align their actions. If objectives are not carefully chosen,
the campaign will succeed only because of luck. And luck is not a
sustainable marketing strategy. When campaign objectives are not
clearly identified, it is likely the campaign will fail and waste money by
trying to sell to people who aren’t interested in purchasing your goods
and services. Thus, the clearer and more focused your campaign
objective, the lower your marketing costs, and the greater your
marketing ROI.
Six steps to developing strong campaign-level marketing

objectives
1. Be specific: What is the “big picture” result you want to achieve via
this campaign? Even at the campaign-level, every objective must have
a specific result in mind. The easiest way to be specific is to use
numbers to quantify your objectives.
2. Must be measurable: All of your marketing objectives need to be

measurable. Otherwise how will you know if you reach them? What
clue will you have? Include the qualifiers of time and type as well as
how many.
3. Must be realistic: Setting goals that require Herculean efforts

probably won’t be received well. Similarly, setting goals that are easily
achievable won’t be taken seriously. There is a balance to setting
stretch goals that can be reasonably achieved and exceeded. Only you
know what is realistic for your business and your team. Consider the
resources you have available such as personnel (and their skill sets),
time, technology, and money.
4. Have a time schedule: Identify a time horizon for the life of this
campaign. Keep in mind that campaigns focus on the big picture, but
the big picture may change over time. As such, campaign horizons are
most often multi-quarter. When campaigns are envisioned to be
multi-year, break them down into phases. This will allow campaign
teams an opportunity to re-evaluate the campaign’s progress and reset
objectives and expectations at appropriate intervals.

5. Must be compatible: The marketing campaign must be designed in
such a way that it is compatible with everything else going on in the
company. Cross-organization alignment with sales, customer support,
product management and other teams is very important. If marketing
has a campaign objective to grow market-share in Europe, but sales is
focused on North America, there is an obvious problem.
6. Must be documented: The major advantage to writing down your

campaign objective is to be able to communicate to others in the
organization as well as having a ready reference guide. Only if it is
documented and shared will it be “real” and be acted upon with
confidence and determination.
Pillar 3: Building a well-constructed value

proposition
While many of us will recognize a good well-thought-out value propo-
sition when we see one, working the process takes practice. There is
a lot of confusion about what good value propositions are and what
they are not. To understand the secrets of what separates an impactful
value proposition from a lame one, we first need to understand how the
concept of a value proposition has evolved.
In their 2006 Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Customer

Value Propositions in Business Markets,” Jamie Anderson, James
Narus, and Wouter van Rossum classify three types of value proposi-
tions: All Benefits, Favorable Points of Difference, and Resonating
Focus (or Just What the Customer Values).7 See Figure 14.
Some marketers are tempted to simply list all the benefits they believe
that their offering might deliver to target customers. The more they can
think of, the better, so they think. The problem: do customers really
care about every benefit?
7. James C. Anderson, James A. Narus, and Wouter van Rossum, Cus-

tomer Value Propositions in Business Markets, Harvard Business Review,
March 2006.

All Benefits good
Favorable Points
better
of Difference
Just What The

best
Customer Values
Figure 14: Three Flavors of Value Propositions
Other marketers go further to consider that the customer has an

alternative. Unfortunately, they often make the mistake of assuming
that any favorable points of difference they can identify and articulate
must therefore also be of equal importance to the customer. The
problem: saying your solution is better than competitor X’s is only
relevant if the customer is viewing competitor X’s solution as an
alternative.
But, best-practice marketers base their value proposition on only those

few elements that matter most to target customers, focusing on the
clear, differentiated value relevant to that particular target market
segment. Then they are able to demonstrate the superiority of their
offering and communicate it in a way that conveys a sophisticated
understanding of the target segment’s business priorities.
Being able to understand “just what the customer values” gives

marketers the advantage by showing them how and where to focus the
marketing campaign for optimum success.

A best-practice value proposition template
A best-practice value proposition template (as shown in Figure 15 and
Appendix A) helps marketers by putting the customer, not their product,
in the center of the universe. The key elements are: Customer Set,
Problem/Need, Value Driver, Competitive Positioning, and Evidence.
Let’s take a look at these, one at a time.
Customer Set:
Competitive
Problem/Need Value Driver Evidence
Positioning
Summary Statement:
Figure 15: Value Proposition Template
Customer Set: Successful marketing starts with an exact answer to

the question Who? The closer the match between your message and
the specific type of prospect you want to engage, the more quality
leads you will get, and the higher your marketing ROI. “But Mike,” I
hear you say, “we sell to everyone! Defining our customer set narrowly
won’t work for us.”

By asking who, what we’re really doing is prioritizing which market
segments we will market to proactively. Here’s the harsh reality:
1. The average person (you and I) is subjected to more than 10,000

messages everyday! Marketing messages hit us from all sides:
from the time you wake up to the news on the radio, read the pa-
per at breakfast, drive by countless billboards, talk with col-
leagues and friends, surf the Internet, etc. The challenge for us
marketers is to figure out how to cut through this noise and clutter.
What can we do to make sure our messages get heard and acted
upon?
2. Unless you are sitting on top of King Solomon’s mines, you don’t
have enough money or resources to execute campaigns for every
possible audience.
The answer to facing these realities is that when it comes to proactive

marketing outreach, we need to focus and prioritize our target audienc-
es. This doesn’t mean we won’t sell our products to folks outside of our
target segmentation. We will. We just won’t proactively market to them.
You will experience a higher marketing ROI by executing a

focused campaign aimed at a specific audience with tailored
messages, rather than trying to blanket everyone in every
industry at the same time.
Throwing your message out to everybody and hoping the right people
will find it is like dropping 100,000 copies of a letter addressed to your
Aunt Marge in Phoenix out of an airplane as you fly over Arizona.
Maybe she'll get it; maybe she won't. It would have been a lot more
cost-effective to address your message to a very specific address
—Aunt Marge's—and forward it directly to her. Likewise, if you want to
work with first-time buyers, your advertising and marketing efforts will
be much more effective and cost-efficient if you gear the message spe-
cifically to them and place your messages specifically where they will
see it.

So, in choosing a specific target audience, let me define Customer Set
as follows:
A Customer Set = an actual group of customers for a given type

of offering who have a common set of needs and who reference
each other.
A customer set is made up of real people who can be found for

marketing purposes. They are factual, not fictional. Different customers
can indeed be grouped together if they reference each other. If CIOs in
manufacturing reference CIO colleagues in telecommunications com-
panies, then they can be combined into a singular customer set.
However, if hotel managers don’t reference auto mechanics, then they
are best thought of as two distinct customer sets that need to be
marketed to separately.
Problem/Need: Many marketers get caught up in thinking about their

product or service in isolation of the customers’ world. Marketers will
push a specific feature or feature set (i.e., it’s fast, small, and has more
storage space). But what problems do those features help solve? What
is the customer’s business problem that needs to be addressed?
Simply stated, the “problem/need” can be defined as:
Problem/Need = a description of the business or operational

problem the target audience needs to address or solve.
The Problem/Need is only the first step in understanding what makes

our customers and prospects tick. Marketers can be better served
when they think about the customers “value driver” where the value
driver is defined as follows:
A Value Driver = a business, financial, operational, technological,

or personal outcome and a metric that a specific customer set can
use to determine the value of your offering.
It is imperative that we be able to map specific outcomes and metrics

that are relevant to a specific target audience. For example, if we know
that the CEOs in our target segment are highly concerned about in-
creasing their return on assets, they are probably interested in

measuring improvements related to revenues and profit, or reducing
business risk. Therefore, we need to identify a specific problem/need
that our product or solution can address.
Figure 16 maps likely outcomes and metrics for specific target

audiences. These are the elements of their value drivers. It’s up to us
marketers to figure out which ones best map to specific audiences.
Outcomes Metrics
Higher revenue or
Higher return
CxO profit; reduced risk;
on assets
increased stock price
Line of Lower customer

Operational acquisition costs;
Business
improvements improved customer
Manager
satisfaction
Lower price; reduced

Lower total cost
IT Manager support costs; faster
of ownership
time to deployment
Great features Faster processor; less

Technologist coding required
and benefits
Figure 16: Value Driver Elements Including Outcomes and

Their Metrics
Competitive positioning: In building our value proposition, we must

be aware of competitive alternatives. There is always competition,
even for brand-new, never-seen-before products. This is because
customers always have options, even if the option is to do nothing.
Therefore, marketers need to consider each major competitive
alternative and position their product or service against it.
Competitive Positioning = establishing a differentiated value to a

customer set by comparing your offering to that of your nearest
competitor.

In conducting a side-by-side analysis of our product or service to that
of Competitor X, we may find many differences. But, this is not enough.
We need to zero in on the most relevant and meaningful difference as
it relates to the customer’s expectation and experience. In other words,
when we compare our solution to that of Competitive X, what is our
strongest differentiator that the customer will care about? Since time
and money are limited, we would be wise to streamline our efforts to
constantly promote that difference, rather than trying to blanket a
variety of differences, some of which may not be relevant.
The bubble-chart shown in Figure 17 is an example of a way to

summarize the competitive themes as they relate to different competi-
tors. For IT managers seeking energy-efficient servers, this example
contrasts three competitors and the best differentiator against each.
The competitor is on the left, your product or service is in the center,
and the strongest point of differentiation is on the right. Obviously,
some meaningful analysis is behind this simple graphic, but the story
that it tells is clear and focused. A decision to focus on a specific com-
petitive positioning and to align key messages behind it will be critically
important for breaking through the noise and clutter in the marketplace.
COMPETITOR OUR PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION
Product X:
HP most energy efficient
Less space
Product X: Better SWaP

IBM most energy efficient (Space, wattage,
performance)
Product X: More
Dell most energy efficient performance
Figure 17: A Technique for Summarizing Competitive

Differentiators

Evidence: The final, and perhaps most critical, piece of the value
proposition is evidence. What makes you credible in the eyes of your
customers and prospects? How can you substantiate the claims you
make and the position you so desperately want?
Evidence = undisputable facts that establish credibility by

offering substantiation that your message is accurate and true.
Evidence may take the form of customer testimonials, benchmark

studies, analyst’s reviews, third-party product comparisons and
analysis. However, in our rush to market, we sometimes take shortcuts
that result in common evidence mistakes such as those listed in
Figure 18.
Relying on competitive
Comparing us to us feature comparisons
alone
Using old data sources

Citing our opinions
or lifetime averages
as evidence
instead of current data
Presenting rankings that Citing evidence that

compare unfavorably to does not support key
previous rankings messages
Using sources that are

Failing to use
not credible to the
the original sources
customer
Figure 18: Common Evidence Mistakes That Can Cripple a

Campaign
The best place to start in our search for evidence is not “What evidence
is available?” Instead, we should ask, “What evidence is needed to
make the strongest, most credible value proposition?” To that end, we
may need to do some homework to collect the required evidence. Once

we decide on what proof points we need, we can develop an action
plan to generate it. Let me be clear: we are not talking about manufac-
turing evidence. We are talking about taking action in order to collect
the evidence we need. Actions may include: interviewing customers to
understand what ROI and metrics they have achieved using our
products or services; arranging for third party product comparisons;
talking with analysts; conducting updated benchmark studies. What’s
at stake here is nothing short of a company’s ethics and moral
standing. Customers and prospects can tell the difference and will act
accordingly.
Putting it all together: We’ve carefully analyzed the market and

prioritized our market segmentation. Now, we are ready to put the
pieces of the value proposition together in a short statement.
Figure 19 illustrates an example of a value proposition based on a real

product. The names of the company and the product have been
omitted for confidentiality. Further background information regarding
this example is provided in Appendix A.
Customer Set: CIOs who need to quickly ramp datacenter capacity
Competitive
Positioning
A rapidly Mobile datacenters The world’s first Demonstrated

deployable, more that can be virtual, modular density, energy
flexible, and less deployed anywhere datacenter housed savings, customer
costly datacenter in 1/10th the time in a standard testimonials,
shipping container industry analyst
reports
Summary Statement: Only Product X lets you build and deploy a complete
datacenter anywhere in the world in 1/10th the time of traditional datacenters, while
maximizing space, power and cooling, cutting costs and delivering more capacity per
square foot.
Figure 19: Example Value Proposition Template Based on a

Real Product

The template format is a good way to summarize the upshot. However,
there are two audiences we need to include in our final evaluation of
our value proposition: internal leaders, and external experts. By failing
to socialize our value proposition with internal leaders, we may
inadvertently create political trauma. Everyone has an opinion; and
some matter more than others. In any case, every opportunity to
socialize, review, and further focus the value proposition is time well
spent. Having said that, sometimes these meetings with highly
opinionated team members can be unhelpful if they aren’t structured.
One way to guide these discussions is by using an agenda such as the
following:
1. Ask the internal leader/expert to summarize the offering in

non-technical jargon.
2. What business problem does our offering alleviate?
3. What’s really new?
4. So what? Why does this matter?
5. Of the top 10 features and benefits, which ones are “firsts,”
“bests,” and “onlys?”*
* Firsts, bests, and onlys:
• Were we first to market? Which features or benefits can we

claim to be first in providing?
• What do we do better than the competition? Which
features or benefits can we claim to be the best at
delivering?
• What is truly unique about our solution? What aspects of
our solution can we claim to be the only provider of?
Lastly, companies can be well served by testing their value proposition

with external experts. Test the value proposition with friendly
customers who will tell you, constructively, what they really think. Look
for formal, as well as informal, ways to test the value proposition with
focus groups or your Customer Advisory Board, or key partners. And,
understand what the media is writing about so you can align your story
with media interests.

Conducting a thoughtful value proposition exercise does take some
time. Make the investment. With a succinct value proposition in hand,
you will be able to:
• become relevant to your target audience,
• construct focused, meaningful messages more easily, and
• dramatically shorten the time needed to create impactful print and

web collateral because they will require fewer rewrites with a whole
lot less frustration.
Your competitors are making use of value proposition best practices,

and so should you.

C h a p t e r
4 Working the Process:

Part 1 – Sketching
the Campaign Map
With the process described in Chapter 2, market-

ing leaders need a template to guide the
cross-functional team in developing a creative,
integrated marketing plan (IMP) and the accom-
panying campaign map. Chapter 4 introduces the
IMP template and describes how it is used to
achieve approval of the campaign strategy at the
Gate 1 review meeting.
8
“Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, General and US
President
Working the IMP process

Plans in and of themselves are not nearly as
important as the exploration and collaboration
found in the planning process. It is through this
process that a creative integrated campaign
strategy and plan will emerge. And in turn, this
plan will become the compass that will guide the
execution of its programs and activities.
8. Brainy Quote, http://tinyurl.com/2jytvv

I prefer the term integrated marketing plan precisely because of the key
word “integrated.” World-class marketing plans are “integrated” along
several dimensions: integrated across a media mix, integrated across
a product portfolio, integrated in messaging, and integrated appropri-
ately for local, regional, and global deployment. It’s a big word filled
with opportunities for producing competitive differentiation.
However, we can sometimes get lost in the details surrounding any

plan. The line between strategy and tactics can easily become blurred.
With that in mind, the IMP is meant to be a guiding tool, not the only
tool. Semantics aside, let us define the IMP in the following way:
The IMP is the executive summary for a specific marketing

campaign. Each marketing campaign will have its own IMP. It
summarizes the marketing objectives, strategy, campaign map and
assumptions. It is designed to be a tool to guide the development
of the marketing campaign strategy and a standard format for
communicating this strategy to other internal audiences.
IMPs vary from company to company. However, the best IMPs always
contain the same basic information. A template of a best-practice IMP
is shown in Appendix B.
The objective of the Integrated Marketing Plan

The value in any template is not the template, per se. It’s the thought
process and discussion than accompanies the use of the template. In
short, a good template will help you bring the right issues to the table
at the right time so the best, optimal marketing decisions can always
be made. This is especially true for the IMP. As we introduced in
Chapter 1, the primary objectives of the IMP are the following:
1. To guide executive decision-making surrounding the campaign

creation, evolution, and its execution
2. To drive purposeful, cross-organization, worldwide
collaboration in order to align everyone behind a common set of
goals and expectations
3. To focus worldwide marketing on the adoption of a consistent
campaign development and management process, including
terminology and nomenclature
56 Chapter 4: Working the Process: Part 1 – Sketching the Campaign Map

Regardless of whether you are a Fortune 500 leader or an
up-and-coming start-up, world-class marketing campaigns start with a
documented strategy and plan. To be sure, every company has
nuances that are different, thus requiring tailoring to any templates.
Yet, the questions that must be addressed are very much the same.
These questions range from Which target market segments should we
prioritize and what is the best way to engage them? to What is the
optimum marketing mix? To address these questions, a good IMP can
be broken down into two parts, each dealing with one of these sets of
questions.
Part 1, covered in this chapter, is about documenting the marketing

strategy and crafting a high-level campaign map. Part 2, covered in
chapter 5, is about designing effective program blueprints that
specifically link activities and offers together to guide a meaningful
dialog with the intended audience – hence the optimum marketing mix.
What the IMP is not
The IMP is not . . .
• the execution plan

• a positioning and messaging playbook
• a budget analysis
• a market requirements document (MRD)
• a product requirements document (PRD)
• a document to be shared with customers or channel
partners
There are a lot of documents created by marketers to help them do

their jobs: PR plans, messaging matrices, launch plans, collateral
creative briefs, and so on. While those documents and tools are criti-
cally important for us in the execution of the tactics of our job, they are
not productive for engaging a global marketing team in the formation of
a marketing strategy and comprehensive plan. You might think of those
documents as the individual pieces of the puzzle. But unless you know
what the picture on the box is, you will struggle to figure out how to put
the pieces together in the right way.

Alternatively, some people view the planning process as requiring
attention to every tiny detail, resulting in a ream of paperwork that few
people will ever read.
The cold, hard fact is that people don't have the time or
energy to read the fine print; people want a clear and crisp
summary that logically lays out the marketing game plan.
That is the IMP.
Instead, what we really need is a tool for summarizing the campaign’s

objective and driving forces, and our marketing approach for engaging
the target audiences. We need an executive summary that we can use
to share with internal executives to gain their approval. We also need
a template that can be easily shared with members of the global
marketing team to best prepare them for the execution phase. That
way, we get everyone singing off the same hymnal.
Getting to Gate 1
As introduced in chapter 2, the objective of the Gate 1 review is to set
forth the campaign strategy, including the estimated resource
requirements necessary for success, before work actually begins on
the campaign. It’s worth repeating that countless hours and dollars
have been lost in developing ad hoc marketing activities that later get
cancelled or flat out miss their mark. Gate 1 is intended to help guide
and reinforce team decisions so these precious resources are not
wasted.
It is no coincidence that the table of contents for Part 1 of the IMP is the
same as the agenda for the Gate 1 steering committee review meeting
(see Figure 20).
In actuality, we already began working on the first few IMP sections in

Chapter 3: campaign name & description, campaign objectives, and
the overarching value proposition. Now let’s drill down the campaign
map.

Gate 1 Review Table of Contents
• Campaign name & description

• Campaign objective(s)
• Value proposition
• Campaign map
• Tactical calendar (program view only)
• Rough budget estimate
• Key assumptions
• Synergies with other campaigns
Figure 20: Table of Contents for the Gate 1 Review Meeting
Introducing the campaign map

With a clear understanding of our prioritized target market segments,
the next questions are:
• What obstacles are stopping prospects from becoming customers?

And, how can we help them overcome these obstacles by sharing
specific information on their own terms?
• How can we best guide prospects through our sales cycle and
encourage them to continually qualify themselves?
• What messages do we need to communicate to them, and in what

sequence?
Marketers must carefully consider which marketing programs are best

in addressing these questions in such a way that they help achieve the
overall campaign objective(s).
The best marketing programs are centered not on discrete tactics (e.g.,
a Google adwords campaign, or a webinar). Instead, they are built
around a specific marketing communications objective or theme. While
there may be an unlimited number of marketing tactics available to
marketers that could be part of any program, the basic marketing

programs are thankfully few and easy for teams to rally around. Each
company will select and tailor its programs using any combination of
the following seven base program types:
• Awareness programs
• Competitive replacement programs
• Cross-sell/up-sell programs
• Migration programs
• New customer acquisition programs
• Nurture programs
• Renewal programs
These seven program types have been mapped against specific

marketing communications objectives: awareness, interest, consider-
ation, and buy/renew. (See Figure 21.) A campaign might have all
program types represented within it, or it might have only a subset of
these types. Also, a campaign may have multiple versions of several
types. It is limited only by the creativity of the marketing team. Every
marketing activity or offer produced should be nested within one of
these seven program types. Doing so will help you stay focused on the
dialog and the relationship you are building with your target audiences.
To do otherwise will result in the fragmentation of your messages.
AWARENESS INTEREST CONSIDERATION BUY/RENEW
Program: Awareness
Program: Competitive Replacement
Program: Cross-sell/Up-sell
Program: Migration
Program: New Customer Acquisition
Program: Nurture
Program: Renewal
Figure 21: Mapping the Seven Program Types within a

Campaign

Choosing the right programs
So, how many program types do you need? Must you use all seven?
Can you have multiple versions of a program type within a campaign?
And, how do you choose the right programs without immediately
jumping to specific tactics? All excellent questions.
As marketing teams work through the IMP they will undoubtedly have
hunches or expectations regarding what programs, activities, and
offers will likely be appropriate. This can be very helpful in envisioning
how the pieces of the campaign will ultimately come together.
However, at this stage, we need to resist the temptation to dictate or
prescribe specific actions (That will come soon enough after we have
passed the Gate 1 review).
Instead, the purpose of the campaign map is to carefully scope the

required program types necessary to achieve success of the
campaign. Brainstorming on these questions is exactly what happens
during the first synchronization meeting. For example, say we are
launching a new product into the widget market. We know that IT
system managers in enterprise businesses are our target audiences.
We also know that competitor X is well entrenched, and that our
company is not well known in this industry. What should our campaign
map look like?
Based on this short description, the team will explore and debate
alternatives for reaching these audiences. The goal is always on how
to best build a relationship with these targets that encourages them to
qualify themselves into or out of our sales funnel. Upon conclusion of
the first synchronization meeting, the team might hypothesize the need
for the following programs:
• Awareness – a thought leadership program designed to promote

our company as a credible player in this industry and a safe choice
as a trusted business partner
• Awareness – new widget launch program making use of carefully

targeted PR, analyst, and viral marketing efforts

• Competitive Replacement – a program aimed at showing a
side-by-side comparison of our product versus Competitor X’s in
specific use cases
• New Customer Acquisition – a program aimed at users who are

not in Competitor X’s installed base
Rather than worry about all the specific details within each program,
the focus on the campaign map is, literally, to map out which programs
are needed, in some logical order, to build a dialog with our intended
market segment. In this case, we’ve hypothesized the need for four
programs, two of which are awareness programs, which comprise the
initial campaign (see Figure 22).
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&OCUSAPROGRAMAIMEDATSHOWINGASIDE BY SIDECOMPARISONOFOURPRODUCTVERSUS
COMPETITOR8SINSPECIFICUSECASES
Figure 22: Hypothetical Mapping of Programs within a

Campaign
The beauty of this map is that it is easy to understand and share with
others. In one slide we can paint a picture that describes how the

team’s marketing efforts would be put to use. There will be many
activities and offers (and all sort of tactics and deliverables) required to
execute this campaign, but, we don’t need to list them here. For now,
we want to communicate the direction of our campaign and the strategy
behind it.
But just listing programs on a page is not enough. Notice the short
descriptors included in each program box in Figure 22. The marketing
team must share the reasoning behind this recommended campaign
map during the Gate 1 campaign strategy review to the steering
committee. They must be able to define and describe in some detail
what each program is, why it is needed, and what its specific
objective(s) will be. The marketer also needs to carefully link each
program back to a marketing communications objective (awareness,
interest, consideration, or buy/renew). That way, it will be crystal clear
how the programs link to each other.
Three common traps to avoid

• The “More is Better” trap: Many marketers fall into the trap of
assuming that every product deserves its own campaign or
program. One marketing team I worked with came to the
conclusion they needed 251 unique programs! Much more than
they could ever hope to possibly execute. More is not better. Even
if the team had the depth of resources and dollars to produce and
promote 251 programs, the target audience would be instantly
inundated, confused, and likely angry at the “attack” upon them.
The solution to getting out of this trap is to put the customer and
their problem, not the product, at the center of marketing mix. By
taking the product marketing managers’ egos out of the mix, they
saw how they could promote a comprehensive solution (made up
of multiple products and services). The result: a 90% reduction of
the initially proposed programs. Promoting a manageable set of
awareness, new customer acquisition, competitive replacement,
and renewal programs around this solution set became instantly
more manageable and whole lot less overwhelming.
Marketing Truism #1: It is better to be wildly successful on fewer

programs than fail miserably on many.

• The “Functional Silo Program” trap: On the other extreme,
occasionally marketers will gravitate to developing programs
based on the marketing functions (e.g., a PR program or a direct
marketing program). However, in the context of developing the
IMP, the key word in integrated. World-class integrated marketing
programs link press releases to case studies and direct mails to
blogs and YouTube videos to websites, and so on. Customers and
prospects don’t experience the world one marketing function at a
time. When it comes to developing an IMP, marketers need to
overtly tie their activities across media types, while at the same
time producing their deliverables in a smart, productive way.
Marketing Truism #2: Artful marketing is like leaving a trail of

bread crumbs easy for the prospect to follow.
• The “Campaign Silo” trap: A little rivalry and competition

between campaign managers can be a good thing if it results in
higher quality campaign strategies and plans. However, when
competition (or ignorance) produces isolated campaigns,
companies miss opportunities for leverage or create gaps in
messaging that can confuse the market.
During my tenure as a campaign manager at both HP and Sun, we

worked hard to avoid this trap. We made it a point to have all the
campaign managers meet weekly or every other week to update
each other on our campaign status so we could explore overlaps
and gaps and make trade-offs. These meetings were sometimes
formal and structured; other times they were informal and casual.
The point was to establish a forum where we could learn from each
other and be reminded of how our campaigns fit together. There is
no question that these sessions helped us build a strong
camaraderie and optimize our campaigns at the same time.
Marketing Truism #3: The best campaign managers are business

managers, always looking out for the greater good and willing to
make compromises and trade-offs.

The high-level tactical calendar
Once we’ve identified the recommended programs, the next step is to
lay them against a timeline. Figure 23 presents an operational tactical
plan, albeit at a high level.
Q4 FY08 Q4 FY09 Q2/Q3 FY09
Program: Awareness: US, UK, Germany only
Program: Program: Program:

Competitive Competitive Competitive
Replacement: Replacement: Replacement:
US UK, France, UK, France,
(Competitor X)
Germany Germany
(Competitor X) (Competitor Y)
Program: New Customer Program: New Customer

Acquisition: US Acquisition: UK, Germany
Program: Renewal:
worldwide
Figure 23: An Example of a High-level Tactical Calendar
This step is where many teams struggle. When most marketers are
asked to think tactically, they are immediately drawn into the minutia.
There is a great temptation to lay out every detail of every tactic and
action item. That is not what is needed at this stage of the IMP
development.
Instead, our intent is to show in a simple timeline when the programs

will be executed. Will a program be managed in a multi-phase
approach? Which quarter will phase 1 be executed? Which programs
will span multiple quarters? Mapping a high level tactical calendar
helps management understand where resources and budget will need
to be committed. We don’t yet know all the details of who needs to do

what and when. Once the IMP has been approved, the team will be
given the “green light” to focus on those details. But focusing on them
prematurely (i.e., before the programs have been approved) is a waste
of time and energy.
Forecasting is always a tricky business. I’ve found that asking teams to

focus mainly on the next two quarters, with some placeholders for the
two quarters following, produces more meaningful and realistic results,
rather than requiring full details for an entire year. Here are a few tips
for sketching out a high-level tactical calendar:
• Think in terms of a whole year, but give weighting to a rolling

six-month window
• Once the plan is approved, this tactical calendar should be

updated quarterly
• Stay within the budget guidelines you’ve been given; however,

think beyond the budget: consider non-budget resource
requirements
• Coordinate the timing against that of other campaigns
• Be mindful of real-world events and competitive moves that may

impact your campaign
This is very important: keep in mind that the context for this tactical
calendar is within the Gate 1 review meeting. It presents an
expectation of resources that will be required to successfully execute
the campaign. Be realistic and pragmatic. If there are obstacles or
concerns that will impact the ability to successfully execute the plan,
then these issues need to be shared with the steering committee. The
high-level tactical calendar is a tool for sharing this expectation.
Rough budget estimate

One of the most common challenges for any team developing a
campaign is to forecast the necessary budget. Occasionally, a team
will be stymied believing that a detailed budget must be given to them
before they can begin planning. Avoid the temptation to wallow in frus-
tration. Let us assume that we will never have all the money we would

like. Therefore, there will always be a need to prioritize our marketing
efforts. Yes, we do need to be practical in making sure that our recom-
mendations fit within an available budget. But at the same time, it is the
campaign’s team duty to recommend what is needed to ensure
success with these strategic campaigns. It has been my experience
that when something is critically important and supported with strong
evidence, available budget can be found. We can keep this in mind as
we develop our plan.
The budgeting process starts with the prospect/customer in mind. Our

goal is to move the prospect through the sales cycle. To that end, we
know what programs will be needed, as we have already described.
Based on our experiences and our knowledge of the marketplace, we
should be able to come up with a reasonable budget estimate to ensure
success. Obviously, this number will have a wide plus or minus
variance, because we haven’t yet specified the details. However, there
are a few places you can go to get some good insights:
1. Consider what your company spent last year on marketing

campaigns and programs. Although these campaigns and pro-
grams may have been treated differently than we have prescribed
in this book, an analysis of past spending behaviors will give you
a good place to base a practical estimate.
2. Ask outside agencies and consultants for budget estimates
for similar campaigns and programs, as we have defined
them in this book. Although all campaigns and programs are
unique, the general cost can be estimated fairly well. For exam-
ple, a professionally run and facilitated Customer Advisory Board
program (i.e., Nurture Program) will cost a company anywhere
between $150K–$250K annually. A six-month awareness cam-
paign run through print, online, and television media can easily
cost several million dollars. Ask the experts to give you an “order
of magnitude” budget estimate.
3. Search the Internet. There is a huge library of articles and blogs
on marketing planning and budgeting. Some quick research can
provide enough details to base your rough estimate.

Tips for managing the budget process
• For best results, management should be able to provide some
general guidance on the range of spend in order to help the
campaign teams scope their programs appropriately. If they can’t,
do the best you can to document a set of reasonable assumptions
so you can easily describe your logic when presenting your budget
recommendation.
• The budgeting process is part art and part science. Spreadsheets

will tell you only so much. You must also plan for the unplannable.
Make sure you pad your numbers to cover unforeseen events. It is
easier to reduce a project’s scope than to ask for more money later.
• Campaign managers who arbitrarily dictate the budget end up

alienating team members. Avoid this temptation. Instead, they
should facilitate this discussion, but not dictate or prescribe the
final recommendation. This needs to be a team-based recommen-
dation.
• Global and regional marketing representatives need to work

together to estimate the budget and resources requirements for
their programs in their regions. These estimates can then be added
to produce a comprehensive global budget estimate.
• Be clear in setting budget estimate expectations. The Gate 1

budget estimate will likely include a variance as much as +/-100%.
The Gate 2 budget estimate is expected to be much more detailed
with a much smaller variance. A good budget range would be
+/-20%.
• Expect that the budget will continue to be tightened and refined as

the team moves from the planning mode into the execution mode.
• Don’t let the budget discussion hinder creative ideas and exploring
new ways to bring messages to the market.

Documenting assumptions and identifying
synergies
This last piece of the first half of the IMP, and an equally important part
of the Gate 1 review meeting, is an acknowledgment of the assump-
tions and synergies the team has made in producing the campaign
map.
Because the IMP is created using imperfect information, it is under-

stood that assumptions need to be made. This section documents any
major assumptions that, if proven incorrect, could have a major positive
or negative impact on the campaign. Assumptions are usually
segmented into the three types:
• Key assumptions about the target audience

Example: Target audience priorities are based on the observation
that CIOs in banks and retail industries are early adopters of
Product X.
• Key assumptions about the campaign and how long it should last
Example: Email and presence at industry events are the most
effective avenues for reaching our target audience.
Example: Because the average decision process takes 9–12
months, our campaign requires constant presence for 18 months
to ensure best results.
• Key assumptions about our company’s ability to execute the

campaign
Example: Marketing resources will be reallocated from Project Y
in December to ensure a smooth rollout. Based on using only the
current available resources, the rollout would be delayed until
March.
A word about presenting to the steering

committee at Gate 1
You’ve now completed the first draft of the IMP. You’ve set your
strategy, crafted a recommendation for your programs, and estimated
the resources required to ensure success. Whether you are a CMO,

campaign team member, or a representative on the steering commit-
tee, here are a few suggestions on how to make this meeting the most
productive.
Helpful tips for the campaign team members:

• Before you make your presentation, it is always a good idea to
pre-sell your recommendations to steering committee members,
especially the ones who are likely to disagree. By sharing your
recommendations early and proactively incorporating their
feedback, you will expedite the Gate 1 approval process. Steering
committee members appreciate this, and so will you.
• Present your recommendation professionally with conviction.

Although steering committee meetings can sometime be
intimidating, speak with passion and with authority. You and your
team are the experts of your campaign, not the steering committee.
• The steering committee is not interested in the details. Focus your

presentation on the most important aspects of the campaign and
on where you need their guidance or involvement to remove
obstacles.
• Be prepared. Have a crisp, clean presentation, including handouts

for all steering committee members. And, have the data to defend
your recommendations if quizzed about the details. If you are not
prepared, the steering committee will eat you for lunch.
• Formatting tips:
– If you have a 60 minute presentation, plan for 30 minutes of slides,
and 30 minutes of Q&A.
– Font size must be greater than 18 point type. A tip for the presenter is
to print out each slide, place it on the floor and try to read it while
standing directly over it. If you can’t read it, the type is too small.
– Share tables and graphics in hardcopy if they are too hard to read in
presentation format.
– Your handouts can be detailed, but don’t expect the steering

committee members to read them.

• Don’t be alarmed if you don’t receive Gate 1 approval at the first
steering committee meeting. The steering committee, having
access to all campaigns, will likely have feedback and additional
requirements you haven’t considered. Take this feedback in stride;
regroup with your campaign team and make the updates in time for
the next meeting.
Helpful tips for the steering committee representatives:

• If provided with the campaign strategy slides before the meeting,
make the time to peruse them. This will help you understand the
material and quickly work through the discussion.
• Ask questions. The worst steering committee meetings are when

members are distracted or not engaged. This is a disservice to
yourself and the campaign team.
• Set the team up for success by ensuring that the campaign

objectives are:
– Understood correctly and completely
– Sponsored and backed by the appropriate executives
– Achievable
• Provide constructive criticism. It’s easy to be an unhelpful critic.

But, the best steering committee sessions I’ve attended are the
ones where the members voiced concerns or disagreements
clearly with specific feedback so the campaign team understood
what action they needed to take.
• Acknowledge good work. Campaign teams are made up of people

who have worked hard to bring their recommendations to you. If
they have done a good job and are well prepared, let them know.

C h a p t e r
5 Working the Process:

Part 2 – Creating
Program Blueprints
We don’t want to create a “scattershot” of seem-

ingly random messaging and tactics. Instead, we
want to deploy a cohesive sustained, relevant
dialog with a target prospect. To do this, we need
a program blueprint. Chapter 5 describes this
part of the process in detail, including the intro-
duction of the “program blueprints” for seven of
the most common types of programs.
“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity

meets planning.”9
Thomas Alva Edison, inventor
Getting to Gate 2
As we discussed in Chapter 4, the Gate 1 review
is used to confirm the campaign strategy. Once
the steering committee has approved the general
approach, the team can now begin to sort out the
details that will make up the programs. Defining
and prioritizing program details, activities, and
offers is far easier to do with a confirmed
campaign strategy than without one. The activi-
9. Thinkexist.com, http://tinyurl.com/34ceks.

ties and offers within each program can be laid out in a blueprint
fashion. Just as in laying out plumbing and electrical fixtures when
designing a house, a program blueprint is a tool used to show how all
the various marketing vehicles fit together to support the campaign.
Thought of another way, the program blueprint displays a “trail of bread
crumbs” intended to engage the prospect in a relevant, meaningful
dialog and guide them quickly through or out of the sales cycle.
Development and agreement on the program details will require

several synchronization meetings with the global team. No doubt
program trade-offs will be required in order to decide on the optimum
marketing mix. And the campaign managers must be mindful of syner-
gies, overlaps, and gaps between their campaign and campaigns run
by their peers. All of these discussions will ultimately culminate in the
presentation of program recommendations shared with the steering
committee at the Gate 2 review.
The purpose of the Gate 2 review is to confirm these program priorities

as well as expectations and resources required for successful
execution. Again, it is not a coincidence that the table of contents for
Part 2 of the IMP is the same as the agenda for the Gate 2 review (see
Figure 24).
Gate 2 Review Table of Contents
• Summary of revisions from Gate 1 meeting

• Overview of key program blueprints
– Program executive summaries
• Program name, description, objective
• Program blueprints (showing the connections
between activities and offers)
• Program calendar of major events
• Synergies with other campaigns and/or programs
Figure 24: Table of Contents for the Gate 2 Review Meeting
74 Chapter 5: Working the Process: Part 2 – Creating Program Blueprints

The logic behind program blueprints
Programs are about achieving a specific marketing result through the
use of a series of marketing activities and offers. The program
objectives, coupled with specific insight into understanding how the
target audience wants to be communicated with, will guide the team’s
recommendation for the optimum marcom mix.
Blueprints are the key because they provide a structure for us to use to
map out this interaction. During the course of this dialog we can and will:
• reinforce messages,
• engage prospects and customers on their own terms, and
• help prospects and customers buy when they are ready to buy (not
when we are ready to sell).
The fact of the matter is that most marketing communications being

executed today contain messages irrelevant to the target audience.
Our job is to focus our messaging on things that matter most to the
audience, when they are ready to hear them. The objective is to
“personalize” the dialog and the timing to the needs of individuals and
to sustain that communication over time and across multiple media and
sales channels. If we can think through this process and capture our
thoughts in a blueprint, our ability to achieve success will increase
dramatically.
Fortunately for marketers, there are really only seven primary program
building blocks. (See Figure 25, and refer to Appendix C for additional
examples of each of the blueprint types.) They are carefully designed
to move prospects through (or out of) the sales funnel. Using the
building block concept marketers are forced to focus on the objective
of their programs before jumping to tactics. This is an essential
discipline associated with the most effective marketing teams.
Although there are only seven program types, there can be an
unlimited number of ways they can be executed. For example,
awareness programs might take the guise of a “general brand
awareness” program through advertising, or a “thought leadership”
program with a heavy focus on executive speaking events, or even a
“corporate sponsorships” program with visibility at sports arenas or
events. In this case, the umbrella program objective is awareness, yet

the focus of that awareness is different within the application of each
program. This gives marketers complete license for creativity but within
a disciplined program structure.
The seven program blueprint types
• Awareness programs
• Competitive replacement programs
• Cross-sell/up-sell programs
• Migration programs
• New customer acquisition programs
• Nurture programs
• Renewal programs
Figure 25: Tying Programs to a Specific Marketing or Sales

Objective
Unfortunately, marketers sometimes confuse activities as being

programs. Figure 26 lists a few common marketing misinterpretations.
Activities are not Programs

The following are activities that may be part of a larger
program. They should not be thought of as stand-alone
programs in and of themselves.
• Press releases
• Google adwords
• Search engine optimization
• Direct mail
• Advertising
We will only know if these activities are optimal if we
understand how and when they fit together to create the
dialog we want with the target audience.
Figure 26: Understanding the Difference between Activities

Versus Programs

Marketers will occasionally jump to a conclusion that a specific activity
is required and that the activity, because of its importance, constitutes
its own program. This is short-sighted thinking because it suggests that
the activity is independent of any other marketing activity.
For example, press releases, editorials, and placement of feature

articles are extremely important elements of a marketing mix. But, it is
a piece of the whole. We need to realign our communications efforts
and look at our marketing deliverables in the same way the customer
sees and experiences them – as a flow of information.
Examining a few blueprint examples

Perhaps the best way to understand blueprints is to look at a few
examples. Figure 27 illustrates a program designed to acquire new
customers. Because this complete process can be lengthy, the
illustration specifies that this example is for phase 1. Other phases may
overlap or extend this model, depending on the specific market or
business issues faced by the marketing team. Notice that the target
audience is listed on the left-hand side of the chart. The marketing
communications objectives (awareness, interest, consideration) are at
the top.
Each box represents a piece of the dialog. Each piece of the dialog has
a theme around which the activity or offer will be based. In blueprint
example #1, the dialog begins with sharing enterprise security best
practices with CIOs. The first set of activities is represented as
mechanisms that will invite CIOs to participate in a series of events to
hear and collect this information. As this dialog continues to unfold,
prospects will be invited to other activities and offers. It is critically
important that these activities and offers are linked in a logical
sequence.

78
TARGET AWARENESS INTEREST CONSIDERATION
What CIOs need

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Figure 27: Example of a Blueprint for a New Customer

Acquisition Program
Chapter 5: Working the Process: Part 2 – Creating Program Blueprints

Through the blueprint we are telling a story. To repeat an analogy I
used earlier: think of this flow chart as a trail of bread crumbs designed
to help lead a prospect through your sales process. This is a story
about acquiring new customers. We’ve suggested that a good way to
capture their interest is with an invitation to participate in a series of
events to learn about enterprise security best practices. If the CIO
engages, we can then point them to some additional resources (e.g., a
second webinar or a case study). If they respond to that, we might
direct them to a new e-library. Only after they have attended or
participated in a prior event do we consider them a serious lead. The
activities noted under “consideration” would likely include more
interaction from the sales team.
Figure 28 shows another example of a new customer acquisition

program. This example starts with awareness activities that prepare
their target audience to receive a trialware offer. Once that offer has
been received and evaluated, follow-up steps and offers are initiated to
encourage the prospect to purchase a complete solution. Notice the
role that inside sales and sales teams play within the activities listed in
the blueprint. It is quite common for marketing teams to forget to
include the sales force as a channel for communicating messages and
offers.
The same approach shown in these two examples can be applied with
each of the other six blueprint types. They all start with careful prospect
targeting, and then map out a sequence of activities and offers from
which to build a dialog and a relationship. Designing a blueprint can be
challenging, especially if the marketers are individual contributors
who’s job it is to be concerned about all the details. However, with a bit
of direction and coaching from marketing leaders and campaign
managers, the team will perform better by keeping an eye on the big
picture. Blueprints are the table of contents of the marketing story. The
tactics will follow in a detailed tactical plan that will be developed upon
Gate 2 approval.

80
TARGET AWARENESS INTEREST CONSIDERATION BUY/RENEW
Protecting your server

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Figure 28: A Second Example of a Blueprint for a New Customer

Acquisition Program
Chapter 5: Working the Process: Part 2 – Creating Program Blueprints

Questions you must be able to answer
before you can build a program blueprint
If you are like most marketers, you are eager to take action. But, what
is the right action to take? Uncounted dollars and time are wasted when
marketers follow the “ready, fire, aim” approach. But, leaders can help
their teams most by asking six key questions before pulling the trigger
on any program (see Figure 29). Let’s look at them one at a time.
Six Key Questions for Program Design
1. Who is the target audience?

2. How do they want to be communicated with?
3. What offers do they want/expect from us?
4. After they respond to the first activity and offer, what
happens next? And what happens after that?
5. What happens if they don't respond?
6. How will your activities and offers help qualify
prospects?
Figure 29: Key Program Design Questions
1) Who is the target audience?

The answer to this question begins in the customer set discussion we
had in Chapter 3. When we defined a customer set, we focused on an
actual group of customers for a given type of offering who have a
common set of needs and who reference each other. But, when it
comes to tailoring a specific program, we need to peel the onion a bit
further.
The fact of the matter is that we will graciously sell our product to
anyone and everyone who wishes to purchase it. However, our
marketing dollars and time are limited. Thus, we must be highly
focused in where, when, and how we will proactively market our wares.
We can think of our target customer set as a literal target, where
concentric rings represent different sub-segments. The final question
really is who is in the bull’s eye? Which sub-segment is most important,

most likely to buy? Perhaps they represent a beachhead in a new
market or country. The more focused we can be, the more relevant we
can tailor our dialog, and the higher ROI we will achieve from the
program.
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Figure 30: Targeting Prospects Means Aiming for the

Bull's Eye
An example: When I ask this question, I most often get a response like,
“CIOs are our target audience.” Okay. This is good, but it is not enough
for our purposes. Not all CIOs are created equal. Do CIOs of
telecommunications companies think the same as CIOs of small
businesses? Do CIOs in Germany worry about the same things as
CIOs in Japan? A better answer to the question might be something
like what is shown in Figure 30:
Our target is CIOs in global financial services companies who have

more than 10,000 employees and are growing at twice the market rate.

Or, another example might be:
Our target is radiologists in US hospitals in the six most rapidly growing

cities who are already looking to phase out traditional x-ray technology
in favor of digital radiography solutions.
As you can see, in each example, we’ve focused by providing more

details, more adjectives to carefully fine-tune who we want to reach.
Undoubtedly, other fringe audiences will hear our messages. This is
fine. And, if they respond, so much the better. However, our best
chance to cut through the marketplace noise is to be as focused as
possible so we can take our best shot.
2) How do they want to be communicated with?

Before we jump into action, we should take a moment to put ourselves
in the prospect’s shoes. They are busy people, bombarded with too
much information (most of it irrelevant). Today’s customers and
prospects are very savvy and want to control what information they
receive and when they receive it. This is the era of opt-in marketing and
personal one-on-one engagement. We must respect their preferences.
Ignore them, and you will be relegated to the junk mail bin. So, how do
we decide upon the optimal marcom mix?
To begin to answer that question, take a look at your current installed

base. Talk with them to understand what sources of information they
commonly refer to when evaluating vendors and solutions. How are
they interacting with you now, and how would they prefer to interact
with you? Is there a difference? Also, look at how your competitors are
communicating. What innovative things are they doing to engage the
prospect in a meaningful, relevant dialogue?
Fortunately and unfortunately for marketers, technology is creating

new channels for us get our messages in front of prospects and
customers. YouTube, MySpace, and blogs are just the latest tools that
are challenging the concept of a traditional marcom mix. Talk to
prospects at tradeshows and industry events, not just about your
products or services, but about how they like to be communicated with
and what types of information they are most interested in. Give the

prospect multiple avenues to collect information and let them decide
which ones work best for them. Invite them to engage you on their own
terms.
3) What offers do they want/expect from us?

This is all about producing a relevant dialog with the intended
audience. Just because you have whitepaper, does it mean you should
offer it to everyone in your target audience? Only do so if it is relevant,
containing information they value. Marketers often fall into the trap of
offering what they have versus offering what prospects and customers
value. World-class marketers understand the difference.
This is another opportunity to understand that “more is not necessarily

better.” When it comes to helping a prospect through a sales cycle, one
relevant, focused whitepaper offered at the right time will be valued
much more than 10 articles thrown at them randomly.
As a rule of thumb, any offers we make must be:
• Carefully targeted: It should address the target reader as an

individual, not a mass market.
• Engaging: It must have a focused message and not a confusing,

random collection of all possible messages. Want to better your
chances? Make the offer intriguing, fun, even entertaining.
• Relevant: It must contain information that is pertinent to their

decision process.
• Meaningful: It must contain logical, substantiated, clearly written

information that is easy to read and understand.
• Timely: It must come to the reader’s attention when they are ready
and interested in receiving it.
Miss any one of these, and the lead generation conversion rates will
fall greatly.

4) After they respond to the first activity, what happens next?
Our goal is not just to sell a product or service. We want to engage the
prospect in an ongoing dialog that becomes the basis for a relationship.
We want to build customer loyalty now – not just at the close of a sale.
Unfortunately, it is sadly true that most marketing teams are so busy in
executing a specific activity or event that the follow-up is sorely lacking.
Examples of disconnected activities:
• The marketing team rigorously works the details in executing a

grand tradeshow event and capturing 1,000 leads. But the leads sit
on a desk for two weeks before being entered into a sales force
automation (SFA) system for follow-up.
• A webinar is conducted to promote a new product. The event

concludes without a call to action. Worse, for the fifty prospects
who attend, there is not a follow-up thank you email or an invitation
to check out other resources that may be of interest to them.
• A product launch complete with press activity and print advertising

is executed, but the sales team is unaware of the launch until they
hear about it from their customers.
• A Customer Advisory Board is held in a scenic location and

generates high energy and expectations with customers. Yet, the
thank you email and executive summary report acknowledging
next steps never is delivered.
Relationships are based on trust and are the foundation for creating
customer loyalty. Just as in playing a good game of chess, we want to
think one, two, or three moves ahead so we can best anticipate the
prospect’s needs for information. Every marketing activity needs to
overtly link to the next so the prospect knows where she should go
next. This lack of follow-through happens all the time. Don’t let it
happen to you.

5) What happens if they don’t respond?
One of a marketer’s worst fears is in hosting an event but no one
showing up. To alleviate this fear, the careful marketer must consider
actions for those prospects who chose not to (or cannot) engage at this
time. The reasons for a lack of response may be many: poor
messaging, unfocused target audience, improper offers, bad timing. In
each case, the marketer needs to have a plan of action to follow up and
give the audience another chance to engage. A few obvious but often
missed options include:
• Sending a “sorry we missed you” email with an invitation to visit the

next event.
• Creating a “nurture” list – a list of all opt-in prospects who have not
engaged. Send gentle reminders to them, inviting them to take
advantage of other information resources and to participate in
future events.
• Resending the direct mail piece but with a different offer.
• Having an inside sales rep call to check in with them and follow-up.
Marketers should always be testing different offers, messages, and

vehicles to see what works best. If at first we don’t succeed, we need
to alter a variable or two and try again. It’s easy to get frustrated, but
keep the faith. The more we understand what approach works best with
our target audiences, the more effective our programs will be.
6) How will your activities and offers help qualify prospects?

Bottom line: Marketing and sales must be working with a “hand in
glove” mentality in order to achieve optimum success. Unfortunately,
many organizations seem to treat marketing and sales teams as
competing organizations. Sales demands more leads; but marketing
wants to know what happened to the leads they gave sales last quarter.
This adversarial relationship hurts companies and alienates customers
and prospects.

Marketing exists to help sales close deals. That’s all that really matters.
Whether it be through advertising programs or webinars or whatever, a
good marketer works closely with sales to determine what volume and
types of leads are needed. Then, marketers can design and execute
the marketing programs to best deliver them. To do this, each
marketing activity requires a careful call-to-action that will encourage a
prospect to advance themselves through the sales cycle or out of it.
If we know that a prospect has visited our website three times last
month and attended a recent webinar, then we can assume some
sincere interest in our product or service. This is likely a high quality
lead. If, on the other hand, a prospect signed up for a webinar but didn’t
attend, we might offer him a second chance to engage with us.
Marketers will want to nurture this lead over time. And, it should never
be handed to sales unless or until it satisfies pre-defined qualification
criteria.
Designing your own blueprints

Only you and your team can develop the right program blueprint for
your business. However, to help you get started, I’ve included generic
templates for the seven basic program types that you can build from in
Appendix C. Use these as your starting point to explore how activities
and offers like these can be linked for best results.
Again, don’t worry about the myriad of details of who does what on
Tuesday and how the activities will eventually be managed. For now,
the purpose of the blueprint exercise is to build the structure of the
ongoing dialog between you and your target prospect. Tips to get you
started:
• Match your program blueprints to how your customers buy your

products, not how your company’s marketing and sales teams are
currently organized. Remember: the target customer is the center
of your universe.
• Test the programs, activities, offers and refine them in real time.
• Build in a feedback loop to optimize the activities and offers that

make up each program.

• Measure success or failure of activities and offers often.
Understanding why a marketing program fails can be the most
important thing a marketer can learn.
• Don’t forget to measure conversion rates between activities and

offers.
• Don’t be afraid to make changes in “mid-flight.” Variables that can

change include calls to action, offers, marketing mix, and
messaging.
Program blueprint critique sheet

The blueprint is not an execution plan. As you brainstorm your own
blueprints, here’s a quick critique sheet to keep you on track.
• Focus, focus, focus: do the activities and offers in your blueprint

support the campaign and program objectives?
• Is each activity and offer appropriate for your designated target

audience?
• Are next steps logically addressed?

– What happens next if a prospect responds?
– What happens next if they don’t?
• What is the optimum marketing mix that supports the program?

– Are you leveraging the right marketing media?
– At the right time?
– In the right geographies/regions?
• Is your program realistic, based on your company’s history, the

likely ability to execute it, and the availability of budget and
resources?

Remember, program blueprints are not . . .
• A long list of every activity and offer you could possibly provide to
a prospect
More is NOT better
• A list of random, unconnected activities and offers.

Each succeeding step must build off of the prior step.
• Focused on a single point in time

Instead, they guide a prospect through the sales cycle
• A tactical execution plan filled with action items, owners, and due
dates
The tactical execution plan is built after the IMP has been approved

C h a p t e r
6 Choosing Proper
Metrics
One of the most common points of confusion is in

choosing the proper metrics on which to base a
campaign’s success. Chapter 6 shares terminol-
ogy and best practices for understanding cascad-
ing metrics and building an appropriate scorecard
for any campaign.
“Being able to “crunch the numbers” is vital to

success in marketing. Knowing which numbers
to crunch, however, is a skill that develops over
time.” 10
Paul W. Farris, from his book “Marketing
Metrics – 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should
Master”
10. Paul W. Farris, Marketing Metrics - 50+ Metrics

Every Executive Should Master, Warton School Pub-
lishing, 2006; BrandNexus Book Reviews,
www.brandnexus.com/book_reviews.php.

Understanding metrics
Before we can decide which metrics are most appropriate to track and
measure, we need to go back to the campaign objective. We
introduced the concept of a “campaign-level” marketing objective in
Chapter 3, defining this as the umbrella objective in the following way:
Once all the marketing programs, activities, and offers

have been run, what have we achieved?
Of course, this description is like looking in the rear-view mirror to know

where we’ve been. We need to be more forward-thinking in our
approach to setting effective marketing objectives and metrics. To do
this, every marketer at every level must understand the business goals
and objectives because these will drive their choice of which metrics
are the most appropriate. Unfortunately, separating campaign-level
metrics from tactical metrics is a common challenge for most
marketers.
Figure 31 offers a perspective on how our cascading objectives fit

together. A company’s business goal always resides at the top. This is
the impetus against which the marketing team, and all other
departments, needs to align their plans. These goals will ultimately
guide our behavior as well as the definition of our campaigns and
programs.
Directly underneath the business goal is where our campaign objective

resides. Underneath that, we will have the various program objectives
that support our campaign. Whereas the campaign’s objective should
be a single objective broad in scope, the program objectives may be
many and more narrowly scoped. And, finally, underneath the program
objectives are the many tactical marketing activities and offers needed
to comprise the programs. Although every marketing activity may also
carry its own set of metrics, it is important not to get too tangled and
overwhelmed with metrics. We must avoid the point where analysis
paralysis invades our thinking and sucks us into the black hole of
indecision.
92 Chapter 6: Choosing Proper Metrics

The goal is where
we want to be
over the long term
Business
Goal!
Campaign The objectives
Objectives are the interim
steps needed
Program Objectives
The tactics are

Tactics the actions taken
(Activities and Offers)
Figure 31: A Model for Cascading Marketing Objectives
When I asked one marketing director about his campaign-level

objectives, he responded by telling me his objectives were the
following:
• To generate 12 press releases, one per month
• To launch a new website in September
• To generate 1,200 leads
• To implement Google adwords
• To update collateral pieces by March
• To hire a new director of marketing before the next board meeting

Unfortunately, none of these are true, meaningful campaign-level
objectives. Rather, they are a mix of operating tactics and isolated
metrics that can be checked off a to-do list. This is not what we are
really looking for.
Figure 32 provides an example of cascading metrics. As you can see,

each succeeding step offers more specifics and granularity on the
metrics that follow. These metrics move from being strategic to being
tactical. Development of the most meaningful and relevant metrics can
be difficult.
An Example of Cascading Metrics

1. Business goal: to generate $100M this fiscal year
2. Campaign objective and associated metric: To grow North

American market-share by 15% within 18 months
3. Program objective and associated metric: To launch an

aggressive competitive replacement program aimed at
competitor Y's installed base and convert 500 new customers
in Q3.
4. Activities and associated metrics:

a. Sales development activities: use our inside sales team
to mine competitor Y's installed base, producing 150 new
contacts and 15 new leads per month beginning in April.
b. Whitepaper promotion: Generate more than 500 web hits
per month via the promotion of a new independent
competitive comparison report showing use cases and
results of our product versus competitor Y’s product (New
whitepaper to be offered via the web and printed
collateral).
Figure 32: An Example of Linking Goals and Objectives to

Appropriate Metrics

Here are a few tips that have helped marketing teams.
1. Track only those metrics that will help you make decisions:
The simple fact is that most metrics are irrelevant or overkill. The
trick is to focus on only those metrics that will help you and your
team optimize decision making. In addition to tracking marketing
performance metrics, make it a priority to understand your sales
pipeline model. Measuring conversion rates between stages in
the pipeline can be an important leading indicator of where you
need to focus your marketing efforts in the future. But remember,
just because you can track a metric, doesn’t mean that you
should or that having that information is worth the investment it
costs you to track it.
2. Avoid getting caught in the weeds: The easiest place to start
generating metrics is also the most dangerous. That is to say that
when the individual marketing media managers generate their
own metrics out of context with the business goal and
campaign-level objectives, the result is a mish-mash of tactical
items that may or may not be relevant and appropriate. Your
search for the most relevant metrics should always start at the
campaign-level and work their way downstream; not the other
way around.
3. Avoid the “more is better” trap: Occasionally, marketing teams
attempt to brainstorm their way into deciding the metrics they will
use. Although brainstorming is often a very good technique to
encourage creative thinking, it can lead to a lengthy list of all
possible metrics. There is a point of diminishing returns when it
comes to metrics management. Avoid the trap of analysis
paralysis.
4. Choosing between what is easy and what is right: Oftentimes,
I see marketing teams default to what metrics they already have
or can easily generate. But, these may not be the best metrics to
use. For example, it’s hard to count press impressions, but easy
to count the number of press releases. I was amazed to find one
marketing VP attempt to substantiate their results by directly
equating sales to the number of press releases generated.
(Seasoned press relations managers will cringe when I say that
this VP was also dismissive of any criteria relating to
newsworthiness.) To be fair, his team was executing other

marketing programs with other metrics, but the number of press
releases was his “bell weather” metric. Not surprisingly, his
tenure as VP of the corporate marketing team was short-lived.
The importance of a scorecard

But how do you really know what you should be measuring? And what
is a proper benchmark to be measured against? This numeric
imperative represents a significant challenge. In business and
economics, many metrics are complex and difficult to master. Some
are highly specialized and best suited to specific analyses. Many
require data that may be approximate, incomplete, or unavailable.
Under these circumstances, no single metric is likely to be perfect.
For this reason, I recommend that marketers use a portfolio or

“scorecard” approach to metrics management. By doing so, they can
view market dynamics from various perspectives and arrive at
“triangulated” insights and perspectives. Additionally, with multiple
metrics, marketers can use each as a check on the others. In this way,
they can maximize the accuracy of their knowledge. They can also
estimate or project one data point on the basis of others. Of course, to
use multiple metrics effectively, marketers must appreciate the
relationship between them and the limitations inherent in each. When
this understanding is achieved, however, metrics can help a marketing
team maintain a productive focus on customers and markets.
Metrics, like the ones shown in a mock marketing scorecard in

Figure 33 can help managers identify the strengths and weaknesses in
both strategies and execution. In looking at this example, we might
conclude that the marketing pipeline is in a bit of trouble: the number
of quarterly responses has decreased the last two quarters; however,
it looks like the response-lead conversion rate may have improved
slightly in Q3 and Q4. Regardless, the number of opportunities looks
rather thin. But keep in mind that numbers only tell us part of the story.
We also need to know the reasons behind the numbers. Factors such
as seasonality, economic and political events, as well as competitive
threats and our own ability to execute marketing campaigns will
influence the numbers. We need to know why. Only then, will we know
what we need to do.

Figure 33: An Example of a Mock Marketing Scorecard
Mathematically defined and widely disseminated, metrics can become

part of a precise, operational language within a marketing and sales
organization. Most of all, dashboards and scorecards are meant to be
shared with management as well as the rank-and-file. Make them
visible. Talk about the implications behind the numbers. Use this tool to
prompt discussion and the brainstorming of corrective actions to
improve marketing results. Celebrate successes when they occur and
rally the team when results show that programs fail to deliver. Although
there are several generic tools that can be used for creating marketing
dashboards and scorecards, the best results are attained when they
are customized for your organization.
A case in point: Not long ago a CMO pulled me aside and expressed
his frustration at a recent board meeting. During the meeting much of
the angst was put on marketing’s supposed inability to deliver leads to
sales. He knew that plenty of good leads were being delivered, but
without data to show where the leads had gone and how they were
being acted upon by the sales department, it was too easy to point the
finger at the marketing department. What was needed, he claimed,
was a marketing dashboard that represented each marketing
campaign and allowed management to drill down to track each lead

against the eleven-stage sales pipeline. After six weeks of work
customizing a marketing dashboard software program and kickstarting
an internal marketing metrics program, the dashboard architecture was
agreed upon and launched. The first weeks required manual data
entry, but much of the data entry would eventually become automated.
The board meeting the following quarter went much differently. During
this meeting, the CMO presented the dashboard highlighting several
marketing campaigns and the number of leads produced. By mapping
his dashboard with the sales force automation tool used by sales, he
was able to track the lead flow through the sales cycle. It quickly
became clear that the bottleneck was not in marketing’s ability to
produce leads. Instead, it lay in the sales reps’ ability to quickly draft
proposals. The creation and use of the marketing dashboard
dramatically changed the agenda and tone of the following board
meetings. Now, the CMO told me, the executive team could focus on
the right problem areas.
As this example shows, marketing organizations are challenged to

justify every activity and every dollar spent. It goes without saying that
measuring the impact of marketing campaigns on customer
acquisition, revenue and profitability is pivotal to the success of any
good marketing organization. Unfortunately, closed-loop analysis can
be hard work, because it involves correlating marketing data from
campaign management platforms, manually-created spreadsheets,
sales force automation tools, and other financial systems. Closing the
loop requires analysis that straddles many disparate systems and data
sources across the organization.
Luckily, managing and measuring marketing metrics is a popular topic

on which there are a number of very good books, whitepapers, and
resources available to assist you. (For example, see Paul W. Farris’
Marketing Metrics: 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should Master,
available on Amazon.com.) We won’t duplicate that material here. But
before you jump to building a home-grown metrics management
system or engage with an outside consulting team, here are few key
concepts that will help you create the most effective metrics
framework.

Understanding the marketing knowledge
hierarchy
Metrics management and reporting is only as good as the decisions it
helps you make. To that end, the first questions we need to ask
ourselves before embarking on a metrics program are the following:
1. What questions do we need to be able to answer? Because if we

don’t know what questions we need to answer, we’ll spend too much
time collecting metrics for the sake of collecting metrics.
2. Who needs to know the answers and their implications?
Because if we provide the wrong answers to the wrong people, we
confuse the real issues.
3. Having received the answers and understood the implications,
are we prepared to adjust our plans? Because if we aren’t
prepared to act, we’re just wasting our time.
These are weighty questions. How you answer them will directly affect
the amount of time and energy you need to put into metrics
management to be successful.
Start by constructing a marketing knowledge hierarchy, like the one

shown in Figure 34. This hierarchy helps us understand who needs
what type of information, in what detail, in what format, and how often.
Ideally, data collection should be automated so reports at every level
can be produced in real-time.
World-class marketing organizations understand that different people

in a company require different levels of data in order to make the best
business decisions. A CEO and her staff need a comprehensive
marketing dashboard that up-levels all of marketing efforts. A series of
simple graphics and charts that provide real-time insight on progress
against the marketing objectives, and how they, in turn, impact the
business objectives, works exceedingly well. Like the dashboard in
your car, a marketing dashboard provides all the necessary dials and
gauges to tell you where you are, where you’re going and at what
speed, along with indicator lights that illuminate at the first sign of a
problem.

Executive-level report
focused on overall results to
Marketing date compared against
key performance
Dashboard indicators
Comprehensive
Campaign campaign overview for
functional management
Scorecard
Ad hoc reporting including

a roll-up of selected
Program Report marketing programs
or individual activities
Figure 34: A Marketing Knowledge Hierarchy
Examples of executive-level dashboard features include the following:
• Aggregate marketing index depicting overall marketing success

including the direct linkage between marketing activities and offers
and the sales pipeline
• Quantifiable marketing ROI
• Identification of what campaigns and programs are doing better

than expected
• Identification of what campaigns and programs are not performing

well
• Predictive metrics and analysis helping you to see problems before

it’s too late for corrective action

Campaign managers and the directors of the marketing functions
benefit from a dashboard aimed a bit lower: the campaign scorecard.
The scorecard is a more-granular version of the marketing dashboard,
but specific to the campaign goals and objectives identified in the IMP.
Examples of campaign-level scorecard features include the following:
• Performance of the overall campaign against the primary

campaign objectives
• Demonstration of how each program contributes to the campaign
• Performance of the key marketing activities and offers that support

the campaign
• Pinpoint problem areas at a tactical level
• Budget overview at the campaign level
And finally, marketing leaders at every level (from the PR manager to

the event coordinator to the CMO) need the ability to perform ad hoc
reports on the most important marketing activities and offers. This type
of fine-tuned reporting allows power users to overlap the marketing
dashboard with the sales force automation system to drill down and get
even more insight into lead trends and conversion rates. Activity
reports need to be available daily or easily produced as needed.
Examples of custom reporting include the following:
• Source of qualified leads by media type
• Comparison of web downloads versus web hits
• Cost per advertising impression or press mention
• Any of a wide variety of other activity metrics
But again, managing metrics for metrics’ sake is not productive.

Attempting to manage a series of metrics for every activity is a waste
of time with obvious diminishing returns. Instead, the team needs to
focus on only those metrics that are most important because knowing

that information will help the leaders make the best, most accurate
real-time decisions possible. Above all else, the right metrics reporting
tool needs to be created for the right internal audience.
Observational insight versus contextual

insight
Key marketing metrics must be able to be captured quickly, even
instantly. But not all metrics are mathematical in nature. In fact, there
are two types of metrics that marketing leaders and campaign
managers must always pay attention to.
Observational insights: managing the numbers
Contextual insight: understanding the reasons behind the numbers
Observational insights are what we’ve been mainly focused on so far.

But contextual insights are equally important. It’s not enough to know
what the numbers are saying. We need to know the reasons why.
Reasons may be linked to any of the following:
• External context: What trends are driving prospect behavior?

These trends may be related to generational preferences (e.g.,
understanding how baby boomers versus echo generation
prospects respond), time based (e.g., due to seasonality) or
cultural (e.g., regional preferences), etc. To manage this analysis,
many larger organizations have a market analyst or small analyst
team just for this purpose.
• Internal context: How are the numbers being worked internally?

Does your company have the right processes in place to digest the
numbers? Are the marketers skilled enough to correctly analyze
the meaning behind the numbers? Metrics training is an area many
marketing teams are investing in. Workshops and seminars can
help marketers better understand how to crunch the numbers and
correctly interpret the results.

Critical success factors for managing the
metrics management process
The world of marketing metrics is complex. Deciding what to measure
for your business requires some careful thought because it is not
always obvious. However, I can offer you three critical success factors
that every world-class marketing organization must embrace to ensure
success. Understanding these will help you build a solid framework
that will help you optimize all of your marketing efforts.
1. Start at the top

Metrics definition and management must start at the top and work
down. Measuring marketing metrics on individual activities out of
context from the master campaign and the overall business objective
is like trying to shut the barn door after the horse has gone. Metrics
focused solely on the tactics will help the media managers (e.g., press
relations manager, advertising manager) understand how well they
have executed their activity, but it will not tell them if the activity was
part of an optimal marketing mix. Nor will these individual metrics tell
you if your marketing budget was well spent. To answer those loftier
questions, metrics management must be embraced as part of the
comprehensive campaign development process. The process starts
with the CMO with daily involvement and oversight from the campaign
manager.
2. Assign a metrics tsar

Metrics management and analysis is a critical task. Although everyone
in marketing needs to be held accountable to a set of relevant,
meaningful metrics, companies can benefit greatly by assigning at
least one seasoned marketing analyst to oversee the metrics
development, gathering, and presentation (i.e., creation of the
dashboards) process. In fact, creation of the executive and campaign
dashboards is a weighty assignment, especially the first time
organizations tackle it. Having an assigned individual not only gives
visible support of the metrics criteria, but it greatly speeds the time to
execution of the dashboards and scorecards. Having said that, once
the process and reporting tools are in place (and ultimately
automated), a full time resource may not be required.

If your company is relying on the best intentions of the marketing team
to manually capture any assortment of metrics, you are getting a poor
return on their efforts. I recommend hiring an outside consultant or
assigning an internal marketing leader for a quarter or two to assess
your current metrics process and develop a custom set of dashboard
and reporting templates.
3. Invest in metrics training and tools

Don’t assume that every member of your marketing team understands
the best metrics for their function or programs. Until recently, metrics
management was treated like an unwanted stepchild nobody wanted
to own. But gone are the days when a CMO could wave her hands and
ignore the consequences of her decisions. Executive teams and
company boards are demanding metrics be managed in a professional,
visible way. Improving the skill level of every marketing employee is
always a good investment. This is especially true in metrics
management.
Look for marketing consultants and training organizations that can

facilitate working sessions where teams can explore and debate which
metrics to monitor, and which numbers to crunch. Through case
studies and workshops, teams can learn how to critique their
campaigns and discover the reasons behind the numbers. There are a
growing number of very good marketing consultants and service
providers who have made it their business to help marketing teams
improve marketing operations and understand which metrics to use
and when. In addition, a Google search will quickly identify a number
of helpful online directories and resources on the topic. Here are a few
to get you started:
Online resources:
• Marketing Sherpa (www.marketingsherpa.com) is a provider of

practical marketing case studies and know-how
• Marketing Profs (www.marketingprofs.com) is a resource of

marketing articles, case studies, marketing research

• The GotoSiliconValley.com Business Directory
(www.gotosiliconvalley.com) is a resource directory for start-ups
and entrepreneurs based in the San Francisco bay area.
Tools:
• Marketing automation packages such as Eloqua

(www.eloqua.com), MarketBright (www.marketbright.com), and
NetLine (www.netline.com)
• Marketing Performance Management solutions such as Cognos

(www.cognos.com) and Hyperion (www.hyperion.com). (Hyperion
was recently acquired by Oracle.)

C h a p t e r
7 The Role of the

Campaign Manager
Nothing can hinder the success of a marketing

campaign faster than an unseasoned campaign
manager. So, what exactly is the role of the cam-
paign manager and what is the profile of the most
effective campaign managers? This chapter
answers these questions and provides helpful
tips that can accelerate the campaign develop-
ment process, remove frustration, and produce
better results.
“A leader is best when people barely know he

exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say: we did it ourselves.”11
Lao-Tzu, the father of Taoism
An often misunderstood role in business is that of

the campaign manager. This nebulous position
provokes reactions from peers that range from
enthusiastic engagement to feared resentment.
The difference depends on how the position of
the campaign manager is first introduced to the
team. But, it also depends heavily on the
chemistry of the person who holds it.
11. Brainy Quote, http://tinyurl.com/2ra2rd.

The effective execution of this role can dramatically improve the results
of any marketing campaign or new product launch. With so much at
stake, why then do so many campaign managers fail? I worked as a
campaign manager and then as a director of campaign management
for eight years at HP, Sun, and Ariba. Today I coach campaign
managers throughout the hi-tech industry. Here are just a few of the
lessons I’ve learned about successful campaign managers.
What is a campaign manager, really?

If designing a marketing campaign were equated to building a house,
the campaign manager would be the architect. The team members are
the contractors with specific areas of strategic and tactical expertise.
The campaign manager brings strategic insight, tactical coordination,

and leadership to driving a cross-functional team towards its goal. The
best campaign managers are part customer advocate, part product
evangelist, and part professional facilitator. They are not engineering
or content experts, per se (Plenty of those experts can be found within
their team). A brief description of a campaign manager can be found in
Figure 35.
The campaign manager is most often a senior individual contributor

reporting to a CMO or senior VP. Although, in some contexts, they may
be part of a product marketing or business unit team. (However, in the
latter structure extra care must be taken to avoid organizational
conflicts of interest.) Campaign managers typically have no direct
reports but work cross-functionally to influence a wide variety of
marketing functions and regional teams as well as executive
management. Employees unfamiliar with matrix management models
may find this a difficult model to understand at first. But, with practice,
the value-add of this leadership role becomes clear to everyone. The
campaign manager oversees and coordinates the development and
final approval of the marketing campaign strategy and owns the
process for the creation of the IMP.
108 Chapter 7: The Role of the Campaign Manager

Definition of the Campaign Manager
• The general manager of the entire IMP process

• The author of the final IMP
• Moderator & facilitator of key meetings:
– Kickoff
– Synchronization meetings
– Program development brainstorming sessions
• The lead presenter in steering committee review
meetings
• An escalation path to help team members identify issues
and confirm priorities
• (In the execution phase) The leader who calls periodic
meetings to assess progress and measure/analyze
results and drive real-time changes to the campaign
But the campaign manager does not . . .
• Dictate specific tactics or actions arbitrarily or unilaterally

• Micro-manage the details and tactics
Figure 35: Definition of a Campaign Manager
When do you need a campaign manager?

As we introduced in Chapter 2, not all companies may need a formal
campaign manager role. But, if yours is a growing company with a
complex sales and marketing model, you should consider adding the
campaign manager role within your team. Some considerations that a
campaign manager may be appropriate for your business include the
following internal and external indicators. The campaign manager is
the perfect leader to guide the team through these dimensions of
complexity. This role is instrumental in architecting successful
marketing strategies that will maximize your company’s marketing
investment.

Internal Indicators
• There is a clear lack of coordination between marketing, sales, and
the business units.
• Management is unsatisfied and frustrated with marketing’s

contributions, but they are unsure where the problems lie.
• There is disagreement between sales and marketing regarding

how many leads are actually being produced.
• The business plan calls for the execution of high-stakes campaigns

such as a company repositioning effort or new product
introductions.
External Indicators
• Past marketing programs failed to produce the required results,
and you’re not sure why.
• Yours is a complex selling process. The sales cycle is 9–12 months

or longer, with multiple people involved in the decision-making
process.
• Customers and prospects have exhibited confusion regarding your

messaging.
• Your competitors are stealing market share away from you.
• Your business is evolving from a direct sales model to a

channel-focused model. As a result, the marketing campaigns
need to be reformulated for the channel.

Five success factors of effective campaign
managers
So, what separates great campaign managers from the rest of us? I’ve
had the privilege to work with some of the best campaign managers in
hi-tech companies anywhere. I’ve also seen first-hand the trauma
brought about by inexperienced people who didn’t know what they
were doing. Figure 36 shares a few of the characteristics found in
every one of the best campaign managers I’ve known.
Characteristics of Effective Campaign Managers
• A recognized, well-rounded marketing leader familiar with

the target market
• Proven leadership in “managing by objective”
• Attentive to detail, but doesn't micro-manage
• Diplomatic and politically savvy
• Patient
• A good facilitator, seasoned in active listening techniques
• Excellent written and oral communicator
– With the team
– Upper management
– Steering committee
• Knows when and how to provide constructive feedback in
real time during public meetings; knows when and how to
provide direct feedback in one-on-one settings
• Is prepared to make hard decisions and trade-offs for the
greater good of the campaign
• Most of all, doesn't let their ego get in the way of sound
decision-making
Figure 36: The Most Effective Campaign Managers Have

These Traits in Common
Campaign development teams may have as many as 50 individuals or

as few as five. Team members may include employees, contractors,
and consultants. Because of the diversity of the team, the campaign

manager must be comfortable, in fact thrive, on the ambiguity that may
exist regarding roles and responsibilities. It all boils down to the five
key skills of effective campaign managers. The best campaign
managers have them; a lack of any one of these can doom any
campaign.
1. They are experienced all-around marketing athletes with

proven leadership abilities. Clearly, the best campaign
managers understand how marketing works: they are not
engineers who are breaking into marketing for the first time. They
don’t need to know everything about every marketing angle, but
they have deep marketing knowledge in at least one of the
following areas: customers and target markets, marketing
strategy creation, product knowledge, marketing expertise in a
specific region, proven leadership in a marketing media type
(such as field marketing or press relations). In addition, the best
campaign managers are senior individual contributors coming
from being a senior manager or director in another marketing
function. Thus, they bring marketing knowledge and political
savvy to the role.
2. They know when and how to delegate. A campaign manager

takes her success not from her own actions, but from the
accomplishments of the team. As seen in the Lao Tsu quote at the
beginning go this chapter, effective campaign managers
remember to say “we” not “I.” As such, delegation is the campaign
manager’s most effective tool. Good campaign managers know a
little about a lot of things, but they don’t know everything.
Whereas some inexperienced campaign managers may feel
threatened by this, the best campaign managers do not. They are
not afraid to let others lead. They look for opportunities to involve
others in mapping the campaign strategy. In so doing, they
encourage and nurture the team’s passion and energy.
3. They are excellent in “managing upwards” and gaining and

maintaining visibility for the team. Every business has its
political nuances. The best campaign managers can spot these
and keep the team out of trouble, while interfacing with
management proactively and effectively. Team players look to

campaign managers to resolve or escalate issues when required.
Campaign managers are adept at managing the process so that
the team players can do what they do best.
4. They are accountable, but they don’t micromanage. This is a

tricky balance because campaign managers are responsible for
delivering the campaign strategy and plan, but they can’t build it
alone. Their ultimate success is achieved by being a resource
and guide for the team and ensuring that their collective
contributions are aligned appropriately.
When campaign managers cross the line and micromanage the

deliverables, team members may take offense and sabotage the
process. To avoid this trap, the best campaign managers add
value, not by dictating action, but by setting clear objectives and
timelines and working to remove obstacles. They always focus on
the “big picture”, lead the charge, and then get out the way.
5. They know when to disband the team. When the IMP has been
created and approved, the job of the campaign development
team is over, and the role of the campaign manager changes.
Once Gate 2 approval has been reached, the campaign
manager’s immediate duty is to celebrate the team’s
achievement, thanking them for their time, energy, and
accomplishments.
Visible recognition is always appreciated by team members and

important for morale. The marketing media managers will now
transition to executing the programs. They are perfectly capable of
doing so within the operating parameters of their own functions; a
campaign manager acting like a clucking mother hen is unwelcome
and unneeded. Now, the campaign manager’s role shifts to focus
on results and reporting back to the steering committee with status
updates and recommendations for campaign adjustments should
market or business conditions change.

Executive endorsement
There can be no question that executive endorsement is critical to
success. In fact, without active, visible executive support, the
campaign manager will flounder and the team members will not be
inclined to break out of their siloed behavior. Sometimes the
introduction of the campaign manager role may feel to some like a
punitive act. In no way is the addition of this new role meant as a slight
against any part of the marketing organization. On the contrary, this
role is intended to be a guiding resource to ensure that all marketers
have the information and leadership support they need to perform at
their best and deliver the maximum marketing ROI.
Campaign management case studies

Sometimes it’s helpful to see where and when companies decided to
adopt the role of the campaign manager. Here are a few of my own
experiences.
Defragmentation
In the late ‘90s, the worldwide customer support organization of a large
computer company was approaching $4 billion in annual revenue. Four
divisions comprised this business unit, each with its own product
marketing staff and its own business agenda. Corporate marketing was
a centralized resource supporting these divisions. Unfortunately,
conflict was common between the divisions as they fought to control
the limited corporate marketing resources and budget. The result was
fragmented marketing messages and tension between the teams. It
was even worse when it became clear that those projects that were
getting done were not necessarily the projects that were most needed.
Instead, the resources were being allocated to those product marketing
managers who “yelled the loudest.” Obviously, this was not the most
effective approach to prioritization and decision making.
To alleviate this frustration, they created a new team of senior

marketing campaign managers that reported directly to the group
marcom manager. Although managed centrally, a campaign manager
was assigned to each division. This team of campaign managers
worked with their peers in corporate marketing and their divisional
counterparts to architect a new campaign development process that

centered around the customer, not the product. Their collective efforts
put a stop to the creation of an unending stream of fragmented
marketing activities. Instead of literally hundreds of individual
marketing projects managed independently, six integrated campaigns
were created.
These campaigns were structured to address the divisions’ business

priorities while being respectful of the customer at the same time.
These core campaigns were developed in conjunction with the annual
budgeting process, then updated quarterly. Improved teamwork and
alignment between the divisions resulted in more consistent
messaging created with less frustration, and the execution of cleverer
marketing campaigns with greater international leverage. After a year
of developing and proving the value of this new function, the campaign
management team became one of the most respected and sought after
teams within the company’s marketing community.
Acquisition Integration
A large software security company had grown through a series of
acquisitions. Its marketing department had blossomed to more than
700 individuals spread out across the world. However, each acquisition
had its own way of marketing; and, these ways continued to be
practiced by the employees who had brought them. This lack of
consistency created some obvious problems for the worldwide
marketing team. What was needed was a way to unite the global team
with a common process that would prioritize market opportunities and
reveal synergies and gaps.
After a careful assessment of their internal marketing operations

process, the CMO and her marketing staff set forth to build a new
campaign development process built on industry best practices. The
CMO set the agenda for change with passion and excitement. An
anointed marketing operations team led the charge to drive the
mechanics, complete with the formation of an operations oversight
committee and an executive steering committee. The campaign
management role was created to oversee the creation of IMPs for their
five global campaigns. The team used an assortment of best-of-breed
templates and techniques to rally their international teams to focus and
set priorities that are continuing to drive higher levels of marketing ROI
for their global efforts.

Just for campaign managers . . .
If you are a campaign manager, or you are managing a team of
campaign managers, pay close attention! This section summarizes
some of the most important tips and tricks I’ve learned. I pass them on
in the hope that they will help you avoid some of the most common
mistakes, while accelerating you on your path to success.
Secrets for working cross-organizationally

• Invite input and feedback at every stage of your IMP development
process.
• Practice active listening techniques.
• Invite regional participation at the kickoff meeting, but don’t expect

full involvement to begin until the synchronization meetings. Rely
on global marketing colleagues to reach out to regions in parallel.
• Budgeting issues will arise. Build a budget-leadership team (of 2-3

senior directors/managers where possible) within the larger
campaign team to help you define and resolve budget barriers.
• Escalate to the steering committee only after other avenues have

failed.
• Build a forum just for campaign managers where you can share
your own insights and best practices on a routine basis. Look for
ways to build and encourage synergy between campaigns when
appropriate.
• Over-communicate the objective, strategy, and status of your

campaign to others in marketing in both formal and informal ways.
Just because you share this information once doesn’t mean
everyone knows or understands it.

Recognizing success
Sometimes seeing the value in the campaign development process is
illusive because it is intangible. This doesn’t mean that the process isn’t
working. It just may mean you haven’t looked in the right places.
Success looks like:
• Team members working cross-organizationally on their own (i.e. in

meetings not called by the campaign manager) in support of
campaign objectives
• Productive and constructive “what if” scenarios that spark creativity
• Structured, but flexible, synchronization meeting agendas with lots

of engagement and discussion
• The development of highly creative, interactive programs that

involve multiple functions that meet the campaign objectives
• Consistent use of product positioning, messages, and campaign

terminology (e.g., campaign, programs, activities, offers)
• All team members “singing off of the same song sheet”
• Positive feedback from the business units, divisions, general

management, sales team that marketing is having an improved,
noticeable impact on the sales cycle
• High marketing morale with engaged team members
Final thoughts for campaign managers

The campaign manager position is of critical importance to the success
of the integrated marketing campaigns. However, if you are a campaign
manager don’t let this go to your head. Success is NOT just about you.
Be mindful of the following:
• How your campaign fits within the strategic planning process
• How your campaign plays in the regional planning process

• Other campaigns (don’t outflank other campaign managers)
• Making good business decisions
You’ve achieved a unique role in your organization that will expand

your leadership, management, and creativity skills. Have fun and grow
with it. To help you on your way, here are a few of the most often
referred to books in my personal library. I don’t believe the content of
these will ever go out of style.
Additional resources
• Getting to Yes – Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger
Fisher and William Ury
http://tinyurl.com/35gc94
• How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie

http://tinyurl.com/38c6kw
• All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum

http://tinyurl.com/2ns3j6
• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout
http://tinyurl.com/2wfjlo

C h a p t e r
8 Overcoming
Objections
Here we explore the top nine objections all teams

face when rolling out a campaign development
process. For each obstacle, we offer a practical
approach to remove the obstacle and improve
team productivity.
“Stand up to your obstacles and do something

about them. You will find that they haven't half
the strength you think they have.”12
Norman Vincent Peale, author of “The Power
of Positive Thinking”
Embarking on the campaign development

process to produce world-class IMPs is not easy.
It takes effort and requires changes to internal
processes, planning templates, and even skill
levels of the marketing staff. But, the rewards are
genuine and the opportunity to create even
higher levels of customer loyalty are achievable
by nurturing an intelligent and respectful
relationship with your target audiences. But
change is often difficult for people and
organizations. Here are nine of the most
12. Brainy Quote, http://tinyurl.com/n3rj6.

common objections and how marketing leaders at every level can
maneuver around them to expedite the path to marketing success.
1) Now is not a good time. We are too busy to

start a new campaign development process.
In today’s global marketplace there is no shortage of work that must be
done. Everyone has (or should have) goals and objectives that drive
their day-to-day work. However, many companies (both Fortune 500
companies as well as start-ups) find themselves executing a variety of
marketing projects that aren’t really part of an overall defined marketing
plan. In other words, they are busy writing press releases, generating
emails, coordinating webinars, but none of these activities are linked to
each other – at least not to full extent they should be. If you find
yourself in this predicament, but with executive or time pressures that
prevent you from adopting a new process, what can you do?
Luckily for us, the science and art of campaign development is not an
“all or nothing” game. In fact, for most companies it is not practical to
throw out existing processes and start over. Instead, the answer is to
look for opportunities to make small but meaningful improvements over
time. Process improvement may start in requiring all marketing
members to embrace a consistent value proposition format (see
Chapter 3 and Appendix A), or in adopting or fine-tuning your IMP
template (see Chapters 4 and Appendix B), or in organizing a
sales-and-marketing team workshop around creating program blue-
prints (see Chapter 5 and Appendix C). The point is to find one obvious
thing that needs improvement and provide enough guidance and
direction to make improvements on it quickly. This is your first step in
working the larger process. Taking positive action, no matter how
small, is usually much better than taking no action. Chapter 9 provides
some additional perspective to help you take the first step.
120 Chapter 8: Overcoming Objections

2) Sales people are a challenge to deal with.
It’s too much trouble to coordinate with them.
When marketing teams act independently from sales, the results will
always be less than optimal. There is an almost unlimited number of
ways for marketing to be busy. The key question is, what activities
should marketing be executing (and when) that will help the sales team
close more deals more quickly?
The marketing-sales alignment should be a topic of every day

discussion, not just once a year. By that I mean that developing a joint
sales and marketing strategy at the beginning of the year and then
discussing feedback in real time and making course corrections should
be a standard operating procedure for all companies. Some companies
will leave this interaction to the discretion of each individual; however,
world-class marketing organizations drive and encourage this process
by setting up a series of marketing-sales touch points to review
progress quarterly, if not monthly. In short, marketing and sales teams
should be working with a “hand in glove” expectation and mentality.
As an example, many companies hold quarterly marketing-sales

summits. These ½ day to full day meetings are typically led by the
CMO, but include representatives from corporate and regional
marketing and sales teams. These are interactive meetings designed
to create tighter bonds between the teams while solving business
issues in real time. If the sales-marketing relationship has been
strained in the past, consider hiring an outside business-savvy
facilitator to guide your summit. They can ease tension and make the
meeting productive. But, not all facilitators are alike. Look for one who
is technology savvy and understands your business.
3) We’ve got a backlog of marketing tactics in

play. Restrategizing them just isn’t practical.
You’re right. And, unless we are building a new company from the
ground up, there will always be a backlog of tactics that must be
executed. The key to success is in recognizing and separating what
can be changed from what shouldn’t be changed. For example, it may
be largely impractical to halt any marketing tactics that are currently
underway. If the strategy for the direct marketing activity has already

been signed-off and the creative team is already busy writing, then we
probably want to let that activity run its course. However, the question
is, “What should happen next?”
Planning is a future-focused activity. Don’t worry about justifying

current or past activities into a not-yet-completed plan. There is little
value in that. Instead, set a time horizon in the future against which new
campaigns will be set. For example, a CMO might state, “All new
campaigns that will be executed next fiscal year will follow the new
campaign development process.” That simple statement allows for a
buffer zone for the marketing team to get today’s work done while
allowing them time to adjust their schedules to prepare for planning.
4) Planning is largely irrelevant because we

must be open to all revenue opportunities. We
really can’t say “no” when sales asks us to do
something for them.
This objection is probably the toughest for marketing teams to wrestle
with because there can be some painful political fallout by saying “no,”
especially when a request for a new marketing project is tied to a
potential sale. Regardless, the most effective marketing teams are
those that have the courage to drive focus by helping the executive and
sales teams agree upon which target markets and which opportunities
are the most important. We all know that trying to be all things to all
markets always leads to sub-standard results and confused customers
and prospects. Bottom line: You can only say “no” with confidence
when you can explain what you are already saying “yes” to and why
that’s a higher priority.
There is a common misconception about addressing this objection,

however. Many people confuse being “marketing driven” with being
“market driven.” So, let me be clear: we are talking about the market
conditions and expectations driving our decision process. We are not
talking about the marketing team arbitrarily dictating a course of action.
When a company becomes market driven, it is really deciding where,
when, and how its proactive marketing investment and activities should
be executed. It is not saying that it won’t accept a sale from some other
non-target customer.

But, because we always have limited resources, unplanned
opportunities will arise and there will be cases where campaigns,
programs, and activities will need to be further prioritized. To help
alleviate internal conflict and provide a venue for productive debate
and decision-making, world-class companies look to guidance from
their cross-functional steering committee to evaluate new sales
opportunities that may require a shift in direction from the campaign
strategy. The steering committee, when used properly, can be a very
effective tool and guide for escalating important issues that have a
direct impact on the vision and mission of the company and the
marketing team’s ability to successful execute.
5) These planning processes are great for

corporate, but they are not helpful for
managing regional activities. We need to do
our own thing.
There is a lot of truth in this objection. The regions and the countries
are all unique with markets and languages that require special
attention. Distance from the US offices makes real-time
communication challenging, especially when teams want to set up a
world-wide conference call that involve team members from Europe as
well as Asia. But world-class marketing organizations have found a
way to work the process and harness the power of strategic thinking so
that regional campaigns can be executed more quickly and cost less.
Here are a few tips:
• To engage regional support early, take time to explain what’s in it

for them. Their participation will allow them to better leverage
messaging and positioning, marketing funds, tools and templates.
This will help them speed regional execution.
• The entire regional team does not need to participate in every part
of the campaign development process. Instead, look for a single
knowledgeable resource that can best represent the needs of the
region. This resource will be critical in helping the team to think
beyond US borders.

• In addition to a worldwide campaign team, establish an EMEA
sub-team, an Asia Pacific sub-team, and a Japan sub-team. Ask
for the regional team leader to work with their local teams to create
recommendations that can feed into the broader process. This
encourages wider participation, and ultimately improves the
likelihood of regional adoption of the plan once complete.
• Alter the times of team meetings, within reason, to make it more

convenient for regional representatives to participate. Although the
headquarters team will complain about having to work late in order
to participate on a call with Japan, it’s only fair that the time zone
challenges be shared at least once in a while.
• Setting proper expectations with all team members regarding how

the campaign will be adapted to each region is vital. The goals of
the campaign should be consistent and clear across regions.
However, it is likely that the tactics used to achieve the objectives
will differ. This is expected and makes sense. For example, the use
of faxes may not work as a delivery mechanism in Germany, but
they may be preferred in Australia. Don’t let team members get
upset if they see differences in the deployment of tactics. It really
doesn’t matter as long as the team is managing activities to
achieve the central objective above all else.
6) Changing our campaign development

process is too hard.
Overcoming resistance to change is one of the toughest objections to
overcome because it means that team members must change their
behaviors and expectations. For this new process to succeed, there
are a number of needed critical factors. For rapid success, here are the
first three that will set the framework for a productive engagement
model.
1. The need for change must be visibly and actively communicated

from the CEO and CMO. Adoption and adherence to the
campaign development process must be advocated from the
executive staff. Only executive management can communicate

with authority the need and urgency for embracing the campaign
development process. This is why visible senior management
commitment to the campaign at the earliest stage is so critical.
2. Set expectations for involvement in the new process and include
these expectations as part of everyone’s individual performance
evaluations. Directives without expectations and measures are
just words. People need to know that actions and results will be
tracked and rewarded, as appropriate. And rewards should be
celebrated and shared for individual performance as well as for
team performance.
3. Lay out a clear time-table against which this planning process will
unfold. Even though the details are likely still undecided, the
backdrop for the process needs to be established and
communicated.
Ultimately the choice is between doing what is easy and what is most
effective. Keep in mind that your competitors have already embraced
many of these practices. What are you waiting for?
7) The integrated marketing plan (IMP) will only

sit on a shelf and gather dust.
We’ve all probably experienced the frustration of having to create large
tomes that go unread. When this happens, it is usually the fault of the
management team not being serious or committed to the process and
the value it provides. How can we best keep the spirit and intent of the
IMP alive?
Executive management’s visible commitment to the process is the first

step. But we also need to be sure that the IMP doesn’t just sit on the
shelf. Once the IMP has been approved at Gate 2, the campaign
manager’s duty is to be the steward for the campaign, keeping the spirit
of the campaign alive. The campaign manager will track results and
monitor the market’s reaction, as markets are dynamic and ever
changing. If changes to the campaign are required, either because
business or competitive conditions have changed, the campaign
manager will reform her team to address the changes and update or
amend the IMP.

8) There’s too much confusion between the
business units and marcom. No one knows
who is driving the process.
The question is really, which organization controls the campaign
managers? If campaign managers report to marcom, does marcom
control all the cards? If campaign management reports to the business
unit, does the business unit trump marcom? This objection is very
serious and indicates the complexity of many Fortune 500
organizational structures. Whose side is the campaign manager on?
The answer, of course, is that the campaign manager should always be
on the customer’s side!
Ideally, the campaign managers are part of a marketing operations

team that reports directly to the CMO. This is ideal because the
campaign manager can remain unbiased as they are not directly tied
to any specific product or marketing group. They can approach the
campaign from the customer’s perspective and be their advocate
through the development process. However, marketing operations
teams are a relatively new trend in marketing; not all companies have
them yet. As such, the ownership for crafting integrated marketing
plans may reside in marcom, product marketing teams, or elsewhere
within cross-functional business units.
The good news is that this process and function can exist in any
structure as long as the business and campaign objectives are clearly
established and reflected in the campaign management charter and
each campaign manager's personal goals. Regardless of the
organizational structure, the campaign development process and the
criteria for campaign prioritization and decision making must be
documented and communicated broadly so expectations can be set
properly. More so, this information must be communicated consistently
and constantly reinforced by each of the marketing leaders of the
different organizations. Ultimately, this is the only way the confusion
will evaporate.

9) I can’t plan unless I know how much money
I have to spend.
This objection is a favorite of marcom managers everywhere. But here
is the fallacy: reality tells us that we will never have as much money
and time as we would like. So waiting for a politicized committee to give
us a number before we can make a recommendation damages the
credibility of the marketing team. Instead, we need to turn this situation
around and lead the budget discussion, not be subservient to it.
Our best value comes when we can guide the executive budgeting
process by providing an order-of-magnitude budget estimate required
for achieving a specific campaign objective. This is where marketing
teams can exercise leadership in addition to being expert tacticians.
What budget is required to achieve the campaign objective? Can we
meet the objective with the budget we have? How much of the
campaign objective is at risk if our budget is limited? What are the trade
offs? These are the budget-related questions that campaigns teams
need to wrestle with.
Having said that, we all know that budgeting is a complex

give-and-take process that spans several months. As such a campaign
team must be nimble to scale up or down their recommendation to
match the available budget. Here are a few tips for building a
reasonable budget estimate:
• The art of budgeting is about making trade-offs. The three

variables marketers have to work with are scope, schedule, and
cost. Reality tells us that when you lock down two dimensions, the
third will align itself accordingly. As the saying goes, “You want it
fast, good, and cheap? Pick two.” If you are fortunate to have been
given a clear budget, focus your time in determining what you can
do to maximize results within that budget. If the scope or schedule
are the pre-defined factors, then the required budget will be
determined by the choice of required activities and offers to
achieve the business or market objective.

• Take a look at history. Look at what your marketing team spent
last year to gain a basis for the order of magnitude for your likely
marketing budget. Even if your marketing team didn’t produce an
IMP, the total dollars available to you will probably be in the same
ball park.
• Look at industry best practices. Many marketing consultants

and vendors can give you data for producing a budget with
confidence. Look for a consultant/vendor who you trust. Share with
them the exercise you are going through and ask for their help in
estimating costs and timing, based on real projects they have
managed.
• Check with the American Marketing Association and other

marketing trades. They have access to experts throughout the
industry who have written articles and books on a variety of
subjects. Ask them to provide you with an introduction to a
resource or two for you off whom you can bounce budgeting ideas.
• Search the Internet. As with the personal relationships you can

gain through marketing associations, you can also gain access to
an overwhelming amount of information on the Web. Focus your
search criteria and keep to the authors who have written multiple
articles or books on the subject of budgeting. That way, you’ll avoid
the ramblings of unqualified bloggers.

C h a p t e r
9 Taking the First Step
So, what does it take to apply this best practice

approach to your business today? It is not as
hard as you might think to make meaningful
improvements immediately. This chapter tells you
how to get started.
“Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . It

has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for
it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change
it, even pause it. But you never stop it
completely.” 13
Jay Conrad Levinson, noted author of the
Guerilla marketing books
Getting started
The most difficult step in any journey is the first
one: the personal decision to invest time and
effort into bettering your campaign development
process. Once you’ve made the personal
commitment, where is the best place to start?
The answer is, it depends.
13. Museum Marketing Tips, http://tinyurl.com/2na725.

Step 1: Focus on three things
Fortunately for us, crafting a world-class campaign development
process is not a zero-sum game. In other words, it’s not about throwing
out what you have in favor of reinventing the total process. In most
cases (unless you are building a new business from scratch), that
approach is unrealistic.
Success can be achieved with small, but important and impactful,

changes made over time. So, instead of being instantly overwhelmed
by the 100 differences between your reality and the process described
in this book, perform a quick assessment of your process to determine
the first three elements of your process where improvement is needed.
What are the three most important things that need to be addressed?
Focus on those, and don’t be distracted by anything else (for now).
These process elements may be the application of a consistent IMP

template, adoption of consistent terminology (campaign, program,
activity, offer), or establishing a steering committee to help with
escalations. I have no doubt that you already know a couple of areas
where you’d like to see your team and your process improve. As the
change agent for the marketing team and your business, you decide
what initial steps need to be taken.
Regardless of your role in the marketing organization, if you can apply

any of the lessons of this book to three small areas of your own
process, then this book will have provided its value. Focusing on three
improvement areas gives your team a chance to experience a tangible
success. Each success, however small, will help you reinforce the
commitment to the larger goal of creating a world-class integrated
marketing process that is fun, engaging, and differentiating.
130 Chapter 9: Taking the First Step

Step 2: Perform a campaign development
assessment
If you are the CMO or leader of your marketing organization, the next
step is up to you. Each marketing organization is unique in the details
of how it functions, how it interacts with sales, and the skills of its team
members. Before you can understand what changes are needed for
optimum, long-term success, you need to conduct a marketing
assessment.
“But assessments cost too much and I don’t need one because I know
what I need to do,” I hear you say. Let’s be realistic: your boss is
holding your feet to the fire to deliver marketing results. You don’t have
the time or bandwidth to personally dig into the details and really
understand where the improvements in planning, processes, or people
are needed. The good news is that you can benefit greatly by involving
others (either team members or outside experts) to help you conduct
an assessment. The good news is also that a marketing assessment
need not take a long time or cost much money. In fact, most audits can
be completed in under a week or two and conclude with a set of
action-oriented recommendations. It is well worth the investment and
will save you from surprises down the road.
What’s covered in a typical campaign

development assessment?
An assessment will give you a pragmatic view of your outbound
marketing communications ecosystem and will help you understand
whether improvements are required related to the planning templates,
operational processes, or people skills. Knowing where the gaps are
will help you identify where mid-term to long-term success lies.
1. Planning: Your ability to effectively plan marketing campaigns

and programs.
2. Processes: A hard look at the methods and tasks used to create,

gain approval, execute, and analyze results of each marketing
campaign.
3. People: An assessment of the skill sets residing in your staff and

their abilities.

But you don’t need to spend money on an assessment yet. The best
place to start is with your own self assessment. Grade your
organization’s effectiveness in each quadrant shown in Table 1. How
would you assess the health of your organization along these
dimensions?
Table 1: Grade Your Organization in This Self-assessment

Grid
“Voice of the Outbound

Customer” Intelligence Marketing
Gathering Communications
Planning
Templates
and Tools
Processes
People
Skills
Techniques to help you hear the “voice of the

customer”
Every successful campaign starts with a solid understanding of the
customer.
How well do you understand the issues driving your customers’

businesses? Does the marketing communications team have access
to this information? Do they share a common understanding of the

business drivers and challenges your customers face? Once this
information is collected, do you have a process for systematically
making this information available and accessible to the rest of the
marketing staff?
The marketing assessor will interview a variety of staff members to

identify the current level of available market intelligence. They can
determine what, if any, statistically rigorous market research exists on
the interests, needs, perceptions, opinions, and expectations of your
customers, prospects, and other supporters or stakeholders.
Information may be gathered from customer visits, product focus
groups, customer advisory boards, sales reps, analyst interviews, etc.
The assessor will also take a look at how your company houses and
shares this information. This repository can be your greatest asset —
or your worst albatross. Most of the time, this information is captured
in only a few marketers’ heads or their hard drives. Without a
repository, you are at risk of losing this valuable corporate information
when they leave the company.
How successful are your outbound marketing

communications today?
Are you executing multi-faceted integrated programs that encourage
your prospects and customers to engage in an ongoing dialog? Or, are
you executing a series of isolated, disconnected marketing activities?
Do you have seasoned marketing leaders building a thoughtful
campaign, or do you have well-intentioned tacticians pulling triggers
without thought? What grade will you give your organization?
Your marketing programs should be strategic, targeted, and

cost-effective with objectives and metrics based on industry response
standards and your organization’s historic response rates. Feedback
from your customers can help you determine the communication
channels of most interest to specific target segments. A marketing
assessor can help you fine-tune your campaign development process,
ensuring that it ties in with your key business planning processes and
timeline. They can also determine if you are utilizing the most effective
range of promotional channels and tactics, while not relying too heavily

on just one or two formats, such as email or events. They can also help
you assess the skills of your marketing staff with a range of ideas and
recommendations for building better, stronger marketers.
Step 3: Make it visible

Whatever steps you decide to take, make them visible. Improving the
campaign development process is a very important, pragmatic
undertaking. Success requires that the drive behind these
improvements be voiced and echoed from the CEO down to the
individual contributors. And, I’m not just talking about producing
dashboards and scorecards. I’m talking about the CMO, in hallway
conversations, personally endorsing the contributions made by team
members who are actively supporting the process; the CEO rallying
employees in quarterly meetings; and employees at every level sharing
real-time results and encouraging each other. Here are just a few best
practices I’ve witnessed CMOs and campaign leaders use to rally their
troops:
• Once you identify your three areas for improvement (step 1),
involve team members. Invite, encourage, and require
participation.
• Start a new tradition of quarterly marketing-sales summits to

review priorities and compare campaign results with the sales
pipeline. Tell executive management and the sales organization
about your long-term goal of improving the campaign development
process. Share your expectations with them.
• Once implemented, don’t let go. And when you’ve implemented

each milestone, acknowledge each success. Watch for results.
Even small improvements, tangible or intangible benefits, are
noteworthy.
Five rules for marketing leaders

As the CMO, marketing leader, or campaign manager consider
yourself a Michelangelo. Your campaign development process is your
Sistine Chapel. Will your marketing campaigns tomorrow be copies of
what you’ve done in the past, producing random results? Or will they

be carefully crafted, engaging your target audience on their terms,
becoming the basis for a long-term relationship with you? In closing,
here are my five important rules for marketing leaders to live by:
Rule 1: The process of developing a winning marketing

campaign is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good campaigns don’t just happen. It takes time to architect an
integrated, multi-faceted marketing campaign focused on achieving
specific goals. The process needs to take into account marketing
objectives, the prioritization of programs, and budget implications.
Because of this complexity, the development and approval of a
well-thought-out IMP can easily take 10–12 weeks. (At first glance, you
may think this is ridiculously long. It is not. Remember the Sun example
in Chapter 1. And consider that many marketing teams invest much
longer than this to clean up lackluster marketing programs that were
ill-planned and never produce meaningful results.) Be patient. Plan
accordingly.
Rule 2: Integrated campaigns are built by cross-functional

teams, not an isolated campaign manager.
A good campaign manager drives the process, but does not dictate the
plan. Instead, the best campaign managers invite participation from
regional and functional experts. They facilitate a process whereby the
best, most effective plan will emerge.
Rule 3: “Ready, aim, fire.” Set the strategy before executing

tactics.
As mentioned earlier, campaign managers and their extended teams
must avoid the temptation to produce “marketing popcorn.” Like in
playing a good game of chess, world-class marketers take the time to
consider each next move before executing it. The strategy guides the
tactics, not vice versa.

Rule 4: Use an outside, experienced marketing operations
consultant to help develop and fine tune the campaign
management process that fits your business.
You and your marketing staff are incredibly busy. When you are
heads-down in working the process, it is often difficult to separate the
symptoms from the root cause in process inefficiencies. This is where
a seasoned marketing operations expert can help. Companies like HP,
Informatica, Symantec, and others have invested in a trusted,
unbiased outside resource to help them assess the effectiveness of
their campaign development process and recommend specific actions
for immediate improvement. The best marketing operations
consultants are practical, pragmatic, and politically savvy. Partnering
with them can help you accelerate the campaign development process
while removing barriers and easing frustrations. If you are interested in
making progress quickly, there is no better way to start.
Rule 5: Track results and make real-time course corrections.

Once the IMP is completed and approved, the team transitions into
execution-mode. However, the campaign manager will continue to
monitor results. The IMP is static in nature; but markets are dynamic.
Thus, the most effective campaign managers set up mechanisms for
tracking progress, communicating results often, and making course
corrections in real-time in order to continually optimize the marketing
mix.
As Jay Levinson states in his quote at the beginning of this chapter, the
campaign development and management process is never ending.
Marketing leaders at every level are constantly challenged to improving
themselves and their processes in order to create a brand that is truly
differentiating. You hold the keys to creating a new age of customer
interaction that will separate you from your competition. The old rules
of mass marketing and niche marketing no longer apply. It’s about
one-on-one person-to-person marketing that will make the difference.
People’s expectations about how they are communicated with have

changed and will continue to change. The campaign development
process laid out in this book is your guide to embracing this challenge.
Also, the templates for value propositions, IMP templates, and the

seven program blueprints are included in the Appendices and available
online at www.kickstartall.com/campaign_development.html. Take
advantage of them.
In conclusion
The science and art of campaign development is not rocket science.
There is probably nothing in this book which you did not already know
at some level of your experience. What I have tried to do is to organize
common sense and common experience in a way that provides a
usable framework for thinking and acting. The more consistent these
ideas are with your knowledge and intuition, the better. As with human
nature, we all learn by doing. It is my sincere hope that this book will
point you in a promising direction by making you aware of these ideas
and how you can kickstart your marketing team to the “next level.”
Good luck!

Appendices
For your easy reference the templates shown here
are also available online at:
To access them, please register and use

“chessmaster” as your password.
A. Value proposition template and example

B. Integrated Marketing Plan (IMP) template
C. The seven program blueprints
Appendix
A Value Proposition
Template
As we introduced in Chapter 3, six ingredients go

into the construction of a solid value proposition:
customer sets, value drivers, competitive posi-
tioning, evidence, internal views, and external
views.
In the formation of a value proposition, a lot of

data will be collected and analyzed. The value
proposition template is designed to summarize
this data in a way that tells a story about the
unique value your company or product or
solution delivers. Keep in mind that the value
proposition, as we have illustrated in this
template, is designed for internal audiences only.
It is not the actual message to the customer or
prospect. This is one of the single best tools you
can use to ensure that everyone on your team
understands the value you provide and how it
relates to your target audiences.
The following is an example of a value

proposition based on a real product: “Product X”.
The names of the company and their product
have been omitted for confidentiality. This
example provides insight into each piece of the
value proposition equation, and then
summarizes it in the template. (See Figure 37.)

Customer Set
Our target audience is CIOs of multinational companies in the financial
services, hospitality, and manufacturing industries. These companies
are the leaders in their industry and are forecasted to grow at twice the
market rate over the next five years. These CIOs need the ability to
quickly add IT capacity, anywhere in the world, at a moment’s notice.
Problem/Need
A growing number of organizations need more IT capacity to meet
current needs or take advantage of new opportunities, yet lack the
space, power, time and money to add it to their existing data centers or
build new ones using traditional approaches. These organizations are
looking for a creative way to add IT capacity to meet their business
needs without breaking the budget.
Value Driver
Product X is the world’s first virtualized datacenter. Housed in a
standard 20-foot shipping container, Product X can be deployed
anywhere in the world within a matter of weeks – 1/10th the time it takes
to deploy a traditional datacenter – at a fraction of the initial cost, with
3x the number of systems in equivalent space and with 20% more
efficient cooling/power. Product X features shock absorption for easy
transport and integrated and centralized state-of-the-art cooling,
networking, and power distribution that optimize energy, space, and
performance efficiency.
Competitive Positioning
Unlike custom datacenter-in-a-box solutions offered by Company Y
created for disaster relief and military operations, our Product X is the
world’s first modular datacenter that is available for broad commercial
use. In addition, our decision to house the solution in a standard
20-foot shipping container is novel. Shipping containers are designed
to move goods anywhere in the world with maximum efficiency. Thus,
it can be deployed anywhere there is electricity, chilled water, and an
Internet connection – from the parking lot to an offshore oil rig.
142 Appendix A: Value Proposition Template

Evidence
Early Product X deployments have demonstrated capacity for more
than 500 CPUs, 2,000 cores or 8,000 compute threads. In addition,
ROI studies conducted for Customers A, B, and C show customers
saving as much as $350,000 in energy costs by locating a Product X
datacenter near cheaper, renewable energy sources. Industry analysts
P and Q have produced new reports showing the business and
operational benefits of complementing IT environments with this
unique approach.
Summary Statement
Designed for rapid deployment by organizations that need to add IT
capacity to meet current needs or take advantage of new opportunities,
yet lack the space, power, time, and money to use traditional
approaches, Product X is the world’s first virtualized datacenter,
optimized with maximum mobility, and energy, space, and performance
efficiency. Housed in a standard 20-foot shipping container, Product X
can be deployed anywhere in the world within a matter of weeks –
1/10th the time to deploy a traditional datacenter – at a fraction of the
initial cost, with 3x the number of systems in equivalent space and with
20% more efficient cooling/power.

Customer Set: CIOs who need to quickly ramp datacenter capacity
Competitive
Positioning
A rapidly Mobile datacenters The world’s first Demonstrated

deployable, more that can be virtual, modular density, energy
flexible, and less deployed anywhere datacenter housed savings, customer
costly datacenter in 1/10th the time in a standard testimonials,
shipping container industry analyst
reports
Summary Statement: Only Product X lets you build and deploy a complete
datacenter anywhere in the world in 1/10th the time of traditional datacenters, while
maximizing space, power and cooling, cutting costs and delivering more capacity per
square foot.
Figure 37: Example of a Value Proposition Based on a Real

Product
144 Appendix A: Value Proposition Template

Appendix
B Integrated Marketing
Plan Template
A generic version of the IMP template is

available online at:
It is in a Microsoft PowerPoint© template.
Eighty percent of the topics included in this

template can be directly applied to your hi-tech
marketing model. The trick is in knowing how to
customize the remaining 20%.
An approach that works best is to introduce the

template as the starting point for your team.
Allow them to adapt the template to fit your
marketing model. Let them become the author of
the final, customized template. Regardless of
what your template looks like at the end of the
day, the most important thing is that it addresses
all the items listed in the table of contents.

146 Appendix B: Integrated Marketing Plan Template
Appendix
C The Seven Program

Blueprints
Appendix C provides examples of the seven

most common types of program blueprints.
These blueprint examples are your starting point.
They have been kept simple in order to illustrate
the connection between the activities and offers.
Also notice the story that unfolds in each
blueprint example.
Based on your specific marketing model, you

many need multiple versions of a single program
type. Or, you may find that only a subset of these
blueprint types apply to your business. During
the course of the synchronization meetings, your
team will explore which program themes apply
best, and then build from there. They are limited
only by your creativity. These blueprints are also
available online at:
• Awareness programs (see Figure 38)
• Competitive replacement programs (see

Figure 39)
• Cross-sell/up-sell programs (see Figure 40)

• Migration programs (seeFigure 41)
• New customer acquisition programs (see Figure 42)
• Nurture programs (see Figure 43)
• Renewal programs (see Figure 44)
148 Appendix C: The Seven Program Blueprints

Program designed to make company executives visible to customer
leaders and decision makers.
TARGET AWARENESS
New Ad Series:
7 trends Solutions in
CEO shaping IT: Action Thought
Nascar Executive Blog: Leadership
Learn from a
Sponsorship US, UK, Article series
Profiles in panel of
(customer Germany, (Executive to
CIO Customer industry
appreciation Japan Executive)
experts
Marketing Campaign Development

booth) Leadership
Methods: Methods: Methods:
Methods: Methods: ad placement articles placed
breakfast
sports marketing blog, website, in CIO Magazine, in 3 primary
seminars
(Activity) podcast Forbes, WSJ, publications
executed locally
(Activity) geo-specific (Activity)
(Activity)
publications
(Activity)
Thought Leadership Article series

IT Mgr (IT Manager to IT Manager)
Sys Method: articles placed in 6 primary
Admin publications, online e-zines, and other blogs.
(Activity)
Figure 38: Awareness Program Example: Venues for Thought Leadership
149
150
Program designed to expand a company’s market share.
Expect more from your IT

partner. Follow-up #1: Follow-up #2:
Competitive Discounts and
Competitive Upgrade Ad Upgrade promotion
IT Mgr Promotion incentives
Methods:
Sys quarterly email invitation to Methods:
visit new material on our Methods:
Admin email, direct Inside Sales,
website (Activity) marketing, partner web promotions
channel (Activity/Offer)
(Activity/Offer)
Industry Satisfaction
Survey (e.g. IT managers,
including competitor X’s
customers, to ask them What IT Managers
about their experiences need to know
with security vendors now about Schedule your
and their solutions) fighting security free demo
threats in 2009
Offer: a free copy of the Methods:
survey for all participants. Methods: online demo
whitepaper, podcast, Inside Sales demo
Methods: blog (Offer) (Offer)
telemarketing (Activity)
Figure 39: Competitive Replacement Program: Unseating a Competitor
Appendix C: The Seven Program Blueprints

All activities promote the same product bundle with an assortment of offers.
Prospects choose what information they want to receive.
TARGET AWARENESS INTEREST/CONSIDERATION
Inside Sales Blitz

(Telemarketing program) Product Y
Program Brief
Methods:
IT Mgr Inside Sales outreach program Methods:
Sys to all product X customers datasheet (Offer)
(Activity)
Admin

Website Promotion (e.g. Product Y
homepage and product Case Study
pages highlight the new
product bundle) Methods:
press article reprint,
Methods:
datasheet or
website, Google adwords
whitepaper (Offer)
(Activity)
Customer Support
Newsletter (a targeted Product Y Demo
newsletter edition going to
product X customers only) Methods:
website, direct sales,
Methods: partner channel
website, email (Activity) (Offer)
Figure 40: Cross-sell/Up-sell Program: Promoting Product Y to

Product X Customers
151
152
Program designed to migrate customers off of old releases.
Upgrade Now! Discounts and

Promotion Annual Account Review: promotion
Health-check service incentives
IT Mgr Methods: promotion (e.g. sales
Customer Support
Sys reps visit customers to Methods:
newsletter,
assess usage of the Inside sales,
Admin website,
web promotions
annual renewal product and make
(Offer)
notification recommendations
(Activity) for optimum use)
Methods:
focus group, user
conference, online survey, Purchase new
sales development calls Version 6.0 now!
(Activity)
Migration Methods:
Planning website, direct
Guide sales, partner sales
Migration Planning (Offer)
Methods:
whitepaper, direct
Service
sales, partner sales
Methods:
(Offer)
website, direct sales,
partner sales (Activity)
Figure 41: Migration Program Example: Upgrading

Customers from Version 5.x to Version 6.0 Program

Program designed to attract new customers and begin a dialog by providing them with valuable
information BEFORE selling them a specific product.
What CIOs need

Invitation to to know now!
participate in a
series of events to Method: webinar Tell us your best
hear enterprise (Offer) practices and save Case Study 2:
security best 50% off the The art of
CIO practices registration of our real-time
Case Study 1: Annual User spyware and
Operational

Methods: email, Conference how to combat
website, partner best practices
communications to it
Method: email, direct
introduce this series Method: webinar marketing, online Method: webinar
(Activity) (Offer) survey (Activity) (Offer)
Welcome to our new 2009 Security

self-service e-library: Schedule your
Planning
“Everything You Need to Know free demo
to Secure your Enterprise in Tips & tricks to Method: online
2009” get you prepared demo
IT Mgr for 2009
Sys Method: web articles, newsletter, Inside Sales
whitepapers, blog Method: webinar demo (Offer)
Admin (Offer) (Offer)
Figure 42: New Customer Acquisition Program
153
154
Program designed to engage prospects who have failed to take
advantage of prior activities and offers.
See what’s new Understanding Discounts and

your top priorities promotion
Methods:
quarterly email for next fiscal year incentives
IT Mgr
invitation to visit
Sys new material on our Methods: Methods:
website focus group, user Inside sales,
Admin conference, online web promotions
(Activity)
survey, sales (Offer)
development calls
(Activity)
New Customers
in Action
series
How can we
Methods: better serve Schedule your
newsletter, webinar, you? free demo
website, case study
articles (press, print Methods: Methods:
collateral), customer online survey, online demo
panel discussions sales development Inside Sales demo
(Offer) (Activities) (Offer)
Figure 43: Nurture Program: Nurturing the Prospect Database

Program designed to bring customers up to date.
TARGET CONSIDERATION/DECISION
(90 days prior to (60 days prior to (30 days prior to (30 days post
expiration) expiration) expiration) expiration)
Renew now! Need to add to Time is running Your license has

IT Mgr Avoid the hassle. or upgrade out. Don’t let expired. Get
Sys your licenses? your coverage up-to-date in one
Methods: lapse. Renew easy step.
Admin Customer Support Methods:

Now!
newsletter, personal Inside Sales Methods:
email from account outreach activities; Methods: personal email
rep; website direct email direct sales and from account rep,
renewal (Activity) partner channel Inside Sales
pages follow-up activities outreach activity
(Activity) (Activity) (Activity)
Standard renewal
Take advantage of time-based renewal discounts and promotion
promotion incentives
Methods:
Method: Inside Sales, direct sales, partner channel, web Inside Sales, direct
promotions (Offer) sales, partner channel,
web promotion (Offer)
Figure 44: Renewal Program: a License Renewal Program
155
156 Appendix C: The Seven Program Blueprints
A u t h o r
About the Author
Mike Gospe is a co-founder and principal of

KickStart Alliance (www.kickstartall.com), a
marketing and sales SWAT team that assists
businesses of all sizes in architecting and
executing a variety of marketing and sales
programs and plans. With more than 20 years of
hi-tech marketing experience, Mike is an accom-
plished leader, marketing strategist and
corporate executive, working with marketing
leaders to architect and hone their strategies,
processes, and plans.
Mike wears the victories and battles scars of

campaign development, having worked eight
years in the trenches as a campaign manager
and then as the director of the campaign man-
agement team at both HP and Sun. As a result,
Mike was recognized as being one of the key ar-
chitects that helped these companies reinvent
their approach to global integrated marketing
planning and execution.
As a recognized leader, Mike has authored a

number of marketing- and sales-related articles,
and is a frequent guest speaker at venture capi-

talist and marketing forums on the topics of
business and marketing planning, messaging,
and sales development. He has a BSEE and an
MBA from the University of Santa Clara. Mike
and his family live in Los Altos, California.
He can be reached at [email protected].
158 Author
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Marketing

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“A true ‘marketing process’ approach that aligns customers, sales and

Other available Happy About books include:

Chapter 1 The Truth about Campaign Development . . 3

Chapter 2 Secrets of a Best-in-Class Campaign

Chapter 3 Setting the Foundation of Your

Marketing Campaign Development vii

Chapter 5 Working the Process: Part 2 –

Chapter 6 Choosing Proper Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 7 The Role of the Campaign Manager . . . . . 107

Chapter 9 Taking the First Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Appendix A Value Proposition Template . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Appendix B Integrated Marketing Plan Template. . . . . 145

Appendix C The Seven Program Blueprints. . . . . . . . . 147

Author About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Your Book Create Thought Leadership for your Company . . . 159

Books Other Happy About Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Marketing Campaign Development ix

Figure 1 Sun's WebTone Marketing

Figure 2 Sun's WebTone Tactical Launch

Figure 3 Understanding the Campaign

Figure 4 A Company's Business Planning

Figure 5 Campaign Development Process ........ 19

Figure 6 Three Phases of the Campaign

Figure 7 A Typical Agenda for a

Figure 8 A Typical Agenda for a Gate 1

Figure 9 A Typical Agenda for a Gate 2

Figure 10 Fundamental Steps in the Complete

Figure 11 Basic Roles and Responsibilities ....... 35

Figure 12 Example of a Campaign Name

Figure 13 Good Campaign-Level Objectives ...... 42

Marketing Campaign Development xi

Figure 15 Value Proposition Template ................ 46

Figure 16 Value Driver Elements Including

Figure 17 A Technique for Summarizing

Figure 18 Common Evidence Mistakes That

Figure 19 Example Value Proposition Template

Figure 20 Table of Contents for the Gate 1

Figure 21 Mapping the Seven Program

Figure 22 Hypothetical Mapping of Programs

Figure 23 An Example of a High-level

Figure 24 Table of Contents for the Gate 2

Figure 25 Tying Programs to a Specific

Figure 26 Understanding the Difference

Figure 27 Example of a Blueprint for a New

Figure 29 Key Program Design Questions ......... 81

Figure 30 Targeting Prospects Means Aiming

Figure 31 A Model for Cascading Marketing

Figure 32 An Example of Linking Goals and

Figure 33 An Example of a Mock Marketing

Figure 34 A Marketing Knowledge Hierarchy ... 100

Figure 35 Definition of a Campaign Manager ... 109

Figure 36 The Most Effective Campaign

Figure 37 Example of a Value Proposition

!02), 5.% 5,9 !5' 3%04 3%04 ./6