How can you tell that marketing execution is working? The right things are happening in a coordinated way. This is where it is essential that the person or team leading the marketing execution activities have a strong understanding of the strategy. They keep this “big goal” in mind as they manage all the elements to make it become a reality. The downside here is that ‘making it happen’ is just often seen as common sense, as something the people in the various departments will just do as a result of coming to work each day. Where the oversight occurs, is that people are in charge of their own element doing their own work. What is missing is the over-all management of the elements and the realization that this is a needed part too. This can often be missed as it seems to be the “invisible” piece. Let me illustrate with this example:
It is really easy to see how marketing execution gets missed and how many companies large and small struggle with this. Having someone who understands the marketing elements available (what they involve, how they help a company, when to bring them in, how to mix them with other elements for the biggest return), general management of people, budgets, timelines, and what senior management sees as success will put your team on the path to more coordinated success.
Have you found a way to make marketing execution a needed skill in your company?