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5 Tips for Driving Digital Transformation

Baileys and coffee, anyone? Baileys has placed itself at the forefront of consumer’s minds with a digital marketing strategy focused on coffee and cocktails as it looks to build on the brand’s ongoing transformation from a traditional drink around the holidays to a year-round drink. The global beverage giant, Diageo has been looking to restore…

Baileys and coffee, anyone?

Baileys has placed itself at the forefront of consumer’s minds with a digital marketing strategy focused on coffee and cocktails as it looks to build on the brand’s ongoing transformation from a traditional drink around the holidays to a year-round drink. The global beverage giant, Diageo has been looking to restore the iconic liquor brand, Baileys Irish Crème, to put it back in the right path for growth.

Remember when Baileys Irish Crème was known for being an old-fashioned liqueur or an after-dinner digestive?

Now, with the help of the innovative new product flavors, engaging cocktail recipes and highly effective digital marketing campaigns, Bailey’s re-positioned itself in the sweet treat category.

Sales growth has been sweet as well, with volume up 6 percent globally. The story is now focused more than ever, and there has been multi-channel usage with Facebook promotions and Buzzfeed’s food-based video channel Proper Tasty, enabling the brand to roll out a variety of fun new recipes such as Bailey’s French toast. 

Since the launch of the campaign in February, the Baileys brand has already garnered over 15 million unique consumer views and nearly 5 million Facebook followers.

Let your senses guide you.

Diageo marketing executive, Jennifer English, has been a key player in the brand’s transformation story. You see, she started out her career as a botanist, studying the subject guided by a love of science. According to English: “At school I had a very clear sense, which I still have in fact, that science is the best route to changing the world. I was going to play a part in that.”

With big data, marketing analytics, and MarTech platforms spanning across various parts of organizations, the lines between the art and science of marketing are blurring.

What may look like a simple marketing research or marketing automation project may actually represent an opportunity for company-wide digital transformation.

Here are 5 tips to help marketing leaders navigate digital transformation.

1. Don’t Let The Tactical Distract From Strategic Business Outcomes

When implementing a new marketing technology or automation system, it’s important to understand the business goals upfront. This will prevent operations from consuming unnecessary amounts of time and money.

You need to challenge your thinking constantly by answering these strategic questions:

  • How do these tasks tie back to our overarching strategy?
  • What’s our goal for this tactic?
  • Does that goal align with our strategy?

If you can’t clearly and succinctly answer these questions – it’s time to rethink priorities and reallocate resources.

2. Build An Agile Team That Can Respond When Demand Rises

Solving for capacity starts with visibility. By creating a clear view of your teams’ capacity, you are enabled to shift resources internally to meet changing demands. Also, by creating a clear view, you are able to understand where there may be any potential skill gaps. This can be very helpful when you are trying to accurately determine which tasks need to be outsourced.

“With customers moving fast and technology moving faster (with more than 5,000+ marketing technology solutions), it is critical for CMOs to adopt an agile mindset and inspire their teams to be innovative, risk-takers, authentic, inclusive, and athletic because, often, needed functions have yet to be designed.”

The ANA CMO Talent Challenge Playbook

3. Define Your KPIs Based On Business Objectives

In order to stay focused on the KPIs that tie back to strategic business goals, marketing teams must identify and track leading indicators and outcome-oriented measurements that matter. All marketing spend on media and asset creation should be visible.

Be clear about what business outcomes you are driving during transition. Dont just spend more; thats why CMOs get fired. Only sign up for budget if you can deliver revenue for it.”

Kristin Lemkau, CMO, JP Morgan Chase

4. Gain Alignment Internally And Break Down Marketing Silos

Authenticity starts with your brand story and mission, and change is driven from the inside out. Therefore, marketing must first get aligned internally, by having an aligned team and a more transparent structure, organizations can eliminate duplicate tasks and reinvest the time, money, and effort in activities that drive the most ROI.

Everything from the way we market and the way we interact internally and with our stakeholders to the way we innovate and the talent we develop and find must be connected to those core values to become the brand we aspired to be. Otherwise, the authenticity is just not there, and that will completely undermine credibility.”
— Rob Lynch, CMO, Arby’s

5. Don’t Get Caught Up In The Marketing Operations Mayhem

In order to navigate through marketing operations, you’ll have to proactively develop a well-planned strategy and ensure the conditions of success are in place.

And by having the conditions for success in place, your team can successfully navigate your transformation initiatives. By knowing the common signs of marketing mayhem, you can take proactive measures to prevent the chaos from getting out of control.

Learn how to identify and overcome these problems in the whitepaper, Overcoming Mayhem: 5 Common Marketing Challenges and Their Solutions.

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