Press Coverage

august 2019 csengineermag.com 53 Just over half of professional service firms say that their marketing and business development groups coordinate efforts. A lack of integra- tion can result in redundancies, waste, and lost opportunities. Without a strategy, all your marketing and business development activities and tactics might be for nothing. Success starts with alignment – heading in the same direction toward focusing on promising prospects, closing deals, and generating revenue. True alignment involves collaboration and integration. We achieve this with a jointly developed strategy to connect with, engage, and convert prospects to clients to raving fans by working together throughout the client life-cycle. Why is marketing and business development alignment critical? 1. We Are Better Together. They work best when they work together. Despite their differences, they still orbit around the same sun with the same mission. Marketers require a business development mentality to produce powerful messages and content, while business development teams need a marketing mentality to approach clients in a compelling way. 2. Client Focus. Alignment is really about the CLIENT. We have to look at everything we do through the eyes of the client. 3. Process. They are both integral to the business development process. Alignment improves tracking as it is far easier to track results and make high-impact changes. 4. Culture. Alignment leads to a better internal culture, which leads to im- proved employee retention. With alignment comes greater clarity, a better understanding of strategies, and an improved perception of one's job and colleagues. 5. Bottom Line. Not only are internally aligned organizations more profitable and efficient, but they also provide a better workflow for employees. Strategies for marketing and business development alignment? 1. Plan Together. When marketing & business development plan together, this fosters buy-in and allows business development leaders to work with marketing to create initiatives, and a strategic marketing plan that directly aligns with the strategic direction of the firm. 2. Develop a Cohesive Strategy. By creating a shared strategy for building a business, all team members buy in. Prioritize the issues you've identified and develop a phased approach to tackling them together and holding each other accountable. 3. Identify Each Team's High-Impact Activities. The reason business goals become detached from marketing & business development efforts is simple: leadership doesn't align those goals with daily activities. Clarify the roles and functions of each department and determine which activities make the highest impact. 4. Agree on a Client Persona. Not clarifying who the ideal client is can lead to ineffective strategies and team disconnect. Marketing may create a campaign targeting one group of clients, whereas the business development team may target a different group. The collaboration will lead to understand- ing who your ideal clients are, what they are looking for, and what their big- Alignment That Impacts the Bottom Line Marketing and Business Development are Two Different Things, But they Need to Work Together if Either are to Succeed By Jen Newman, CPSM and Doug Parker, FSMPS, CPSM

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