Marketing Profs

In his seminal work Good to Great, author Jim Collins makes an initial supposition that great companies would first have a "new direction, a new vision and strategy for the company, and then get people committed and aligned behind that new direction." Essentially, he says that top executives would offer a grandiose vision for the company that all employees would rally around.

But his subsequent research proved just the opposite. Collins found those executives who "ignited the transformation from good to great" were first concerned with getting the right team onboard. The right strategy would then follow from getting the right executives in place. Good to great leaders followed a "first WHO" and "then WHAT" plan of attack.

According to Collins, "first WHO" means tapping the right people for the right roles in the organization. People are the most important assets in a company.

The most obvious application of "first WHO"—to the marketing organization—is for Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) to ensure the right people are filling the right roles. There are plenty of talented marketing professionals in each organization, yet it is critically important that these professionals are in jobs that fit their core competencies.

"First WHO" marketing means making sure the right people are in the right roles. However, another application of "first WHO" is equally important and not readily apparent.

WHO on First

Many marketing organizations struggle to show value to the overall business. Marketing gurus point to trends of more marketers' using analytics to measure marketing effectiveness. Some marketers use sophisticated ROI models, while others use crude Excel spreadsheets to monitor marketing performance.

It is important to measure the business value driven from any corporate investment, whether it is information technology (IT), plants and equipment or marketing. However, measuring the value of marketing is not as simple as measuring the ROI from a supply chain initiative. Marketing is the sum of an intricate and diverse collection of influences. Contribution can be measured, but it is often difficult to determine, with any degree of accuracy, that through the expenditure of marketing investment X, the corporation realized financial benefits of Y and Z.

Indeed, too often marketing professionals are focused on "the WHAT." What tradeshows should be reviewed, what types of direct mail should be sent, what Internet portals should gain the most adspend. Instead, to make marketing more effective, marketing executives should focus on "first WHO."

To accurately apply the principle of "first WHO," it is important for the marketing organization to know its target audiences. In the B2B world, the application of "first WHO" means it is no longer acceptable to have a target list of 500, 100 or even 50 companies. Instead, the list would be narrowed to a group of 10 or 20 key companies. Next, a marketer must ensure that he or she has a deep and thorough mastery of the "WHOs," or core decision makers within those target organizations.