MODERN MARKETING

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

 MODERN MARKETING Best Practices Guide
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3

Introduction 4

World Class Marketing Organization Maturity Model 5

How to Improve your Marketing Maturity 7

How to Work the Modern Marketing Maturity Model 8

Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE) 9

Action Plan 14

ActionDemand
About Plan Metric 21
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 3

Executive Summary
Demand Metric collaborated with Pardot/Salesforce to conduct a research FIGURE 1: DIFFICULTY JUSTIFYING THE MARKETING BUDGET
study entitled “Marketing Report Card: Keeping our Seat at the Table” to
identify how Marketing as a function is being perceived. 4%
While many of the insights drawn were expected, there were a few that 10%
Very difficult
Very Easy

were shocking.

Only 15% of organizations claimed to have an easy time justifying

11% Easy
their marketing budget. Furthermore, just 12% of organizations felt that
Marketing is perceived as a highly profitable revenue center, whereas
59% perceive Marketing as a ‘necessary’ or even ‘unnessary’ expense. 27%
Difficult
48%
Neither difficult
This best practices guide will discuss how organizations can build a nor easy
Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE)TM, turn these percep-
tions around, and drive revenue growth.
FIGURE 2: INTERNAL PERCEPTION OF MARKETING

8% 12%
Highly profitable revenue center
Unnecessary expense

21%
Modestly profitable
revenue center
51%
Necessary expense
8%
Breakeven center
INTRODUCTION MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 4

Introduction
The purpose of this Best Practices Guide is to provide organizations with
pragmatic advice and recommendations for improving their marketing Read this Best Practices Guide to learn:
maturity and operational effectiveness by developing a Modern Marketing
Center of Excellence (MMCoE)TM. The 4 Levels of Modern Marketing Maturity

You’ll learn about Demand Metric’s Modern Marketing Maturity Model and How to improve your Marketing
World Class Marketing Assessment (no charge to instantly download), a effectiveness
67-point diagnotic tool to determine your organization’s current level of
What is a Center of Excellence (CoE)? How
marketing maturity across 8 key drivers of marketing effectiveness.
does it function?
This guide will also introduce ‘Centers of Excellence’ (CoEs), which have
Why build a Center of Excellence? What are
been heavily adopted in the IT world for providing defined, repeatable,
the business benefits?
and measurable business processes that add clear and quantifiable
business value to their organizations. Key success factors for building a sustain-
able MMCoE
Next, we extend the notion of a CoE to the needs of the modern marketing
organization and introduce the concept of a Modern Marketing Center of How does the MMCoE fit into the organiza-
Excellence (MMCoE)TM. tion? What is its role?

Reading this guide will also provide insight into the resources Demand The Modern Marketing Center of Excellence
Metric has created for its members that can help you with building (MMCoE)TM Model
your own Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE)TM to drive
6 Key Marketing Functions required to build
improved marketing maturity and operational effectiveness.
an MMCoE

Why to consider working with Demand

Metric
 WORLD CLASS
MARKETING ORGANIZATION
Maturity Model
LEVEL 4 - Profit Center
LEVEL 3 - Revenue Contributor
LEVEL 2 - Revenue Neutral
World Class
Marketing LEVEL 1 - Cost Center
Organization
Marketing plan aligned with and
Working from a strategic marketing drives business planning
plan and campaign plans
Still reactive, some campaign plan-
Orientation Very reactive, operational, not ning, no strategic plan
strategic, no plan

CMO, VPs, Directors, Managers,

Leadership
No senior leadership in
Marketing, possibly a Manager
VP, Director of Marketing, and Program Managers
Director of Marketing, with Program Managers
Project or Program Managers

CMO compensation tied

Job descriptions & performance to revenue & marketing
Basic job descriptions in place reviews done regularly performance
Staffing Informal roles & responsibilities, but rarely updated
no job description

Budgeting is connected to
A budget exists and business revenue growth targets
A small budget exists for items cases are created to justify
Budget such as trade shows, etc.
No budget exists, spending is spend
Ad Hoc
 WORLD CLASS
MARKETING ORGANIZATION
Maturity Model
World Class
Marketing
Organization LEVEL 1 - Cost Center LEVEL 2 - Revenue Neutral LEVEL 3 - Revenue Contributor LEVEL 4 - Profit Center

All processes are defined,

Activities are repeatable and All processes are defined and measured, managed, and
Processes No processes, activities done some measurement in place
some processes are defined optimized
ad hoc, reactive in nature

All systems fully integrated,

CRM, marketing automation, with analytics & business intelligence
Systems Legacy customer database or some integration.
Minimal marketing technology CRM system, email marketing
in place

Cost per lead (CPL), renewal Customer lifetime value (CLV),

No metrics or a focus on adver- Perational metrics such as open brand equity, cost to acquire, ROI
Metrics rate percent, # of sales qualified
tising: # of impressions, # of ads rates, click-thrus, registrations
leads created

Source of revenue, strategic

Executive Cost-center, sales support Cost-center, flashes of brilliance function
Perspective Cost-center, not a strategic
function function
of Marketing

Want to rate your organization’s World Class Marketing maturity with an

interactive tool? Download our World Class Marketing Assessment VIEW RESOURCE
and get started today!
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING MATURITY MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 7

How to Improve your Marketing Maturity

STEP 1 STEP 2

Determine Your Current Level of Maturity Conduct a Self-Assessment

There are four stages of organizational maturity as it relates to Modern Once you have studied the maturity model, take 15 minutes to refine your
Marketing. These stages of maturity are: focus and identify your strengths and areas for improvement by using
Demand Metric’s free World Class Marketing Assessment.
Cost-Center: Marketing is largely a sales support function with no
executive leadership. Marketing department viewed as a cost-center
with no ability to demonstrate its contribution to revenue.

Revenue Neutral: Marketing is focused on Lead Generation, Events,

VIEW RESOURCE
and Communications. Marketing and Sales work together to define lead
quality and track operational metrics such as number of impressions or
number of click-thrus but Marketing still viewed as a cost-center.

Revenue Contributor: Marketing tracks metrics such as Cost Per Lead

and Cost Per Opportunity but does not have a ability to clearly demon- This self-assessment is a 67 point diagnostic tool that will highlight your
strate direct contribution to revenue. capabilities and provide you with a benchmark to measure your improve-
ment over time.
Profit Center: Marketing viewed as a strategic enabler of scalable,
predictable revenue. Metrics include Customer Lifetime Value, Return
on Marketing Investment (ROMI), and Cost of Acquisition. Marketing is
part of senior leadership and is highly respected.
HOW TO WORK THE MODERN MARKETING MATURITY MODEL
How to Work the Modern Marketing Maturity Model
STEP 3 STEP
Set Incremental Goals for Improvement
If you have completed the assessment, you will now have a report card
with benchmarks for your current capabilities across the 8 key functions
required to have a Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE)TM.
The next step in the process is to prioritize which areas of improvement
will have the most immediate impact on your organization.
You can use Demand Metric’s Prioritization Tool (no charge to downoad)
to logically rank each initiative and get a visual output of your results.
VIEW RESOURCE
The final step is to set realistic goals for improvement in each key area.
Then, gather resources, train your staff, get expert advice, and identify
other creative ways to meet your improvement goals.
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 8
4
Improve Capabilities and Re-Assess
Over the next 6-12 months, use the Modern Marketing Maturity Model,
World Class Marketing Assessment, and Prioritization Tool as your blue-
print for implementing your performance and productivity plans.
You may need to implement new technology systems to help you
execute and measure your activities more accurately, standardize your
key Marketing processes, or augment your organization’s skill set by
adding additional staff or contractors.
This is essentially how a Center of Excellence operates: assess, priori-
tize, improve, re-assess.
After you have worked the process for at least 6 months, re-assess your
organization using the World Class Marketing Assessment to demon-
strate a measurable improvement to your capabilities and gain more
support for your Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE)TM.
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MMCOE)
Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE)
What is a Center of Excellence (CoE)?
A CoE is generally a team of people that work together to develop and
deploy ‘Best Practices’ around a specific function or focus area that drive
improved business results. Some popular examples include: Lean, Six
Sigma, TQM, ISO, ITIL, COBIT, PMO, etc.
Experts in the field, Kerrine Bryan and Ian Herbert, define a CoE as:
“The CoE may comprise a functional or cross-functional
team looking both inside and outside the organisation
to capture new knowledge and practices. It may be
set up as a physical or virtual team, but it will have
a permanent rather than just a project status. The
defining feature of a CoE is knowledge management.”
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 9
Key Functions of a Center of Excellence (CoE)
All CoEs are unique but many focus on the following functions:
Best Practices: Business Process Management (BPM) design and
reengineering based on third-party research and industry best practices
Support: deliver shared services, policies, training, templates, etc.
Direction: standardize processes in field/business units and provide
methodologies, tools, and knowledge centers to train staff
Training: skills assessments, courses, e-learning, workshops, profes-
sional development plans, certification programs, academies
Measurement: analyze results to demonstrate ROI of the CoE
Technology: vendor/system standardization, technology expertise to
enable automation of key processes across the whole enterprise
Governance: budgeting and staffing, resource allocation, prioritization,
decision-making, performance mangement, funding
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MMCOE)
Why Build a Center of Excellence (CoE)?
Executives at Forrester, Gartner, and Accenture go on record to state that
when organizations implement Business Process Management (BPM)
initatives to improve their core operations and processes, they have much
more success when they couple them with the creation of a Center of
Excellence (CoE).
Connie Moore, VP at Forrester Research states:
“We have found a correlation between centers of
excellence and BPM success.”
The oppposite is also true. Moore goes on to state that: “BPM failures
often go hand-in-hand with the lack of a CoE… It’s hard to overempha-
size the importance of putting your core business process improvement
skills in a central group.”
In a Forrester survey, 67% of respondents who reported receiving clear
and measurable benefits from their BPM initiatives had formal CoEs. For
those who reported BPM failures, only 14% had CoEs in place.
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10
Forrester isn’t alone in evangelizing the value of CoEs. A recent Gartner
research report states bluntly that organizations without such cross-func-
tional centers “will find that their efforts do not deliver the promised results,
and their BPM initiatives will subsequently be disbanded.”
Fully 50% of BPM projects conducted without CoE support go belly-up,
according to Gartner.
Asim Akram, senior manager of Accenture’s Process Architecture Group,
describes the CoE as an important bridge between short-term projects
and taking a long-term and more strategic approach to BPM.
In a recent article, Akram states:
“While focusing on tactical needs, organizations tend
to overlook areas such as process ownership and
governance, roles and responsibilities, service levels,
and standards that should be associated with any
process initiatives.”
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MMCOE) MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 11

TM

Key Success Factors for Building a MMCoE

There are four key success factors to consider when building a MMCoE: It is imperative to document these roles and responsibilities to ensure that
everyone is on the same page, new MMCoE members get up to speed
Documented and Agreed Upon Charter of the MMCoE – The
quickly, and you can clearly communicate to senior-level stakeholders
MMCoE charter is a formal document that defines the scope, purpose,
how the MMCoE functions from an operational perspective.
authority, and operating procedures of the MMCoE. It should be
detailed and include the current level of marketing maturity along
with specific goals, tied to key metrics, for measuring improvements.

Strong MMCoE Leadership – The leader of the MMCoE should be

analytical, process-oriented, and have the ability to work effectively
with key stakeholders and executive-level sponsors. A consulting
background in BPM is an asset.

Executive Level Sponsorship and Buy-In – Without a full commitment

from senior management to support the MMCoE with the required
budget, resources, and attention, there is a solid chance that the initia-
tive will go belly-up inside of 12 months. Enterprise-wide initiatives are
notorious for failing, so be sure to set reasonable expectations and
don’t attempt without the required buy-in.

Defined Roles and Responsibilities – Like any high-functioning team,

each group and individual member of the MMCoE needs to have a
clearly articulated role and responsibilities, metrics to measure their
performance, and goals and objectives.
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MMCOE) MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 12

How does the MMCoE fit into the organization? What are the Key Roles & Responsibilities?

Business & Marketing Directives, Prioritization, Marketing Program

Executive Marketing Leadership Team Funding, Executive Level Support, Senior Management Reporting,
Decision-Making

Key Business Unit Marketing Priorities, Business & End User

Stakeholders CIO CFO EVP Sales Requirements, Alignment with Sales Organization,
in Business
Units Technology Implementation & Adoption

Planning, Program Prioritization, Budgeting, Resource Allocation,

Marketing Steering Committee Governance, Business Alignment, Program Performance Review,
MMCoE Team Selection

Shared Services Delivery, Process Definition & Optimization,

Modern Marketing Center of Excellence (MMCoE) Research & Best Practices, Training & Certification,
Marketing & Sales Operations, Analytics

Field Marketing, Events, Marketing Program Execution, Analytics, Reporting

Sales &
Field Product Product Development, Market Research & Analysis,
Channel
Marketing Management Product Lifecycle Management
Organizations
Customer Acquistion, Retention, Customer Requirements
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (MMCOE) MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 13

Demand Metric defines the Modern Marketing Center of Excellence

(MMCoE)TM as:

Tthe processes, practices, technologies and tools that

improve the performance and productivity of the Marketing
organization in an effort to drive a measurable contribution
to revenue.

Improving marketing effectiveness is a complex task, especially for

mid-sized and large organizations.

To assist in this mission, Demand Metric has created an Action Plan (page
15) for understanding which functions and competencies are required
to build a Modern Marketing organization that is viewed as a strategic
driver of revenue.

Additionally, Demand Metric has established a research practice for

each of these competency areas to develop relevant research, tools,
training and advice for organizations seeking to operationalize the ‘Best
Practices’ employed by world-class marketing organizations.
THE EVOLUTION OF SHOPPER MARKETING MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 14

THE MMCOE
TM

ACTION PLAN

Follow this simple, step-by-step methodology to develop a Modern Marketing Center of Excellence plan
that increases sales, builds customer insights, and grows brand awareness.
ACTION PLAN MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 15

1 Strategy & Operations

2 Product Management Marketing Strategy & Operations

3 Digital Marketing A solid Marketing strategy is just unrealized potential without

sound marketing operations to facilitate the execution and
measurement of its strategic objectives.
4 Demand Generation
Here are a few practical resources for improving Marketing
Strategy & Operations:
5 Sales Enablement Strategic Guidance: check out these strategic Marketing
Frameworks, Maturity Models, Assessments, and Metrics
Dashboards.
6 Customer Engagement
Methodology & Tool-Kit: use our Marketing Strategy Plan,
methodology and associated tool-kit to develop your strategy.

Technology Research: learn about technology solution

providers quickly and without vendor fluff and bias with our
Solution Studies, Best Practices Reports, Vendor Profiles
and Vendor Matrices.

Benchmarking Reports: read our Benchmark Reports to see

how you compare to your peers in our community of senior
marketers.
ACTION PLAN
1 Strategy & Operations
Product Management
2 Product Management
3 Digital Marketing
4 Demand Generation
5 Sales Enablement
6 Customer Engagement
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 16
While it’s a myth that over 80% of product launches fail, the Product
Development Institute (PDI) found that top performing organiza-
tions have a failure rate of 38% while bottom performers fail
55% of the time.
Having your entire product management team operating from
the same proven methodology can be the difference between a
successful launch or a costly failure. Following are resources to
help you develop Product Management excellence:
Assessments: benchmark and evaluate your opportunities
for improvement with our Market Research Capabilities
Assessment and our fundamentals-based Product
Development Assessment.
Methodologies & Tool-Kits: operationalize ‘Best Practices’ with
our proven Market Research, Product Development, Product
Marketing Plan methodologies and associated tool-kits.
DMU Training Courses: empower your team and provide
them with training for Market Research, Product Develop-
ment and Product Marketing.
ACTION PLAN
1 Strategy & Operations
2 Product Management
3 Digital Marketing
4 Demand Generation
5 Sales Enablement
6 Customer Engagement
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 17
Digital Marketing
Demand Metric surveyed over 600 organizations and found that
only 22% of organizations are creating ‘advanced’ digital expe-
riences. For organizations whose digital marketing sophistica-
tion is ‘advanced’, 83% are also experiencing revenue growth.
This means that digital experiences have a significant impact
on revenue growth, but 78% of organizations are struggling to
create them. Develop better digital marketing experiences with
these resources:
Best Practices: review our Digital Marketing Framework,
Maturity Model and Best Practices Report to discover how
top organizations operate. Also, compare yourself to your
peers with our Digital Marketing Benchmark Report.
Technology Solution Studies: learn about vendors, trends
and best practices for Video Marketing, Mobile Marketing,
Social Media and Public Relations.
DMU Training Courses: get knowledge, tools and a proven
process for Agency Management, Video Marketing, Website
Redesign, Public Relations, Mobile Marketing,
and Social Media.
ACTION PLAN MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 18

1 Strategy & Operations

2 Product Management Demand Generation

3 Digital Marketing In our Lead Generation benchmark study, we found that just 9%
of companies report having a highly effective lead genera-
tion process and 58% of participants say their process doesn’t

4 Demand Generation produce enough leads.

Also, 52% of companies don’t have an effective definition or stan-

5 Sales Enablement dard for a ‘lead’ that is agreed on by Sales & Marketing*. From this
data we can see that lead generation is one of the greatest points
of friction between the Sales and Marketing team. These resources
6 Customer Engagement will help you improve your lead generation process:

Assessment: take our Lead Generation Maturity Assess-

ment to understand your current strengths & weakness and
identify areas to improve. Read our Marketing Automation
Solution Study to get up to speed on the market.

Methodology & Tool-Kit: use our Lead Generation Plan

Methodology to implement an effective lead generation
strategy, process & infrastructure.

DMU Training Courses: train and equip your team with a

proven process for Lead Generation, Content Marketing,
Webinars, and Events.
ACTION PLAN
1 Strategy & Operations
2 Product Management
3 Digital Marketing
4 Demand Generation
5 Sales Enablement
6 Customer Engagement
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 19
Sales Enablement
A recent Demand Metric study revealed that 72% of sales and
marketing professionals agree that there is an immediate loss of
revenue after a bad sales meeting.
For 70% of organizations in this study, the recovery from a bad
sales interaction can take from a few months to a few years. The
biggest predictor of bad sales meetings was the failure of the
marketing team to perform. Following are resources to help you
drive revenue with better sales enablement:
Best Practices: review our Sales Enablement Framework,
Maturity Model and Best Practices Report to discover how
top organizations enable Sales.
Benchmark Reports: compare yourself with peers by
reading our reports on Sales Enablement and Sales Experi-
ence Quality.
Technology Solution Studies: learn about vendors, trends
and best practices for Enablement KM, CPQ, CRM, Sales
Intelligence & Sales Communication.
DMU Training Courses: operationalize best practices with
our training on Sales Enablement, Sales Training, and CRM.
ACTION PLAN
1 Strategy & Operations
2 Product Management
3 Digital Marketing
4 Demand Generation
5 Sales Enablement
6 Customer Engagement
MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 20
Customer Engagement
In our Content & The Buyer’s Journey study we found that the most
frequently encountered problem with content marketing efforts
is that “content doesn’t create enough opportunities for interac-
tion and engagement”, experienced by 58% of study participants.
Companies need to look beyond their content marketing efforts to
effectively engage their customers.
These resources will help you drive improved customer engage-
ment and loyalty:
Assessment: take our Customer Experience Management
Assessment to understand your current strengths & weak-
ness and identify areas to improve.
Benchmark Reports: read our reports, Content & The
Buyer’s Journey and Website Optimization to learn how top
organizations engage their customers.
Tools & Models: use our Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Calculator and Customer Journey Map tools to map out
the journey and calulate the long-term economic value of an
engaged and loyal customer.
ABOUT DEMAND METRIC MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 21

About Demand Metric

Demand Metric provides Agile Marketing software powered

by 1,000+ practical tools and resources to help our members
complete their work faster and with more confidence.

Our community of 125,000+ global members is composed of

CEOs and business owners, marketing consultants and agen-
cies, marketing executives and managers, and professionals
who specialize in: product management, marketing operations,
sales enablement, customer engagement, demand genera-
tion, content marketing, project management, account-based
marketing, and other disciplines.
VIEW WEBSITE
To learn more about Demand Metric, sign up for a free member-
ship at: www.demandmetric.com
THE EVOLUTION OF SHOPPER MARKETING MODERN MARKETING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 22

© Demand Metric Research Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

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