Positioning silos will kill revenue growth. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are uniquely qualified to bridge these silos and deepen buyer personalization.
“CMOs should lead on a company-wide approach to personalizing the buyer journey. Marketing is best positioned to connect all the way from the very first brand touch to a buyer becoming a customer and then advocate,” says Allyson Havener, CMO at TrustRadius.
Research from McKinsey, Gartner, Forrester, and Salesforce has shown that companies that personalize the entire buyer journey grow on average 2x faster than peers.
Personalization involves recognizing and communicating with buyers as individuals where they are in their journey, and this includes passive buyers. It also means giving buyers the information that they want without having to talk to salespeople and then having that validated by their peers.
Welcome to the Buyer-Led Era!
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Allyson about the three strategies she uses as a CMO to overcome positioning silos, organize and personalize the buyer journey, all to accelerate TrustRadius’ growth.
Cross-Team Positioning
“Your marketing team can create brand positioning and messaging, but it will not matter if your sales team is not able to bring this into each buyer conversation,” says Allyson.
Too often marketing teams spend a lot of time getting their branding and positioning right to build messaging frameworks that manifest into a website and thought leadership content, then somewhere that continuity throughout the buyer journey stops. They forget that it is the day-to-day positioning in conversations with your sales and account teams that matters most.
Allyson elaborates: “Most CMOs are well-positioned to push this from the top down. The disconnect often happens between marketing, which creates the messaging, and how they get feedback from the field and customers. CMOs need to think about this feedback loop to ensure that the messaging resonates and is effective in real-world scenarios.”
Content-Driven Storytelling
“It is content that tells your story consistently across the buyer journey,” Allyson continues. “You need content at different levels of depth across the full buyer journey.”
We’ve all heard the mantra: “Content is king.” But not all content wears the crown equally. When it comes to your buyer’s journey, the real game-changer is content that personalizes value. Content-driven storytelling creates a consistent value story at each buyer touchpoint.
Allyson explains that brand messaging involves top-of-funnel content like thought leadership and educational materials that address major industry trends. “The disconnect happens when there is misalignment on the sales front, where they might not understand the full-funnel buyer experience. Strategic CMOs think about the numerous touchpoints a buyer will have with the brand before they even consider the product.”
She adds: “Understanding this journey helps salespeople see the purpose of each piece of content and realize it’s not all about bottom-funnel conversion. It’s about the full journey and how buyers interact with our brand.”
Cross-Team Measurement
“Without effective cross-team measurement, it is not only hard to hit your pipeline number but also to know which positioning and content are working and which are not,” Allyson says.
Allyson points out that aligning on key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial. “There are early indicators, often dismissed as vanity metrics, that show engagement and interest, which can signal future success. Aligning with your sales leader on these KPIs helps build a unified story and trust before presenting to other executives.”
She explains: “This cross-functional alignment on metrics and storytelling is why CMOs are well-positioned to move into other roles like Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). It’s about creating and communicating a cohesive narrative that aligns marketing and sales efforts for optimal growth.”
CMOs have a pivotal role in leading personalization across the buyer journey. These strategies, as demonstrated by Allyson Havener at TrustRadius, can drive significant growth and foster a more connected and engaging buyer experience.