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Any time we look to change the status quo, there will be roadblocks, hurdles, and growing pains. But when it comes to aligning internal organizations in marketing and sales (and customer service), the struggle can pay off hugely. But no organization and no leadership should be looking to make these changes and shift internal processes without looking to how it can be done most effectively and efficiently – that’s a no-brainer. This is why digital transformation is not only critical for successful marketing and sales alignment, but it should in fact be a primary focus – then the alignment will come more easily.
Digital transformation means better customer insights
At last month’s Adobe Experience Maker’s Live virtual event, Chris Parkin, Senior Director at Adobe walked us through “Redefining the Future with Digital Transformation”. In his presentation, he showed us how Adobe is adapting through new digital technologies and approaches, and how other Adobe customers are as well.
In his first point, he showed how digital transformation allows for a “deeper understanding of the customer,” discussing that in doing so, we can identify “specific customers and audience segments, understand behavior, and anticipate actions.” This, in turn, allows us to “use data to generate actionable insights and improve customer outcomes.”
So what does this mean in terms of marketing and sales alignment? Well for starters, we can better track customer journeys from (MQLs) to SQLs to SALs. This allows us to see patterns, and then make predictions which can help us to do more aligned activities from how we build website/digital sales funnels and email marketing campaigns, to how we can more accurately identify the activities that lead to conversions through all stages of the journey. 
This makes the handoff of a prospect between marketing and sales seamless. When we have the tools to measure what our prospects and customers are doing, what they may need, and what their intentions are, we can more accurately service them and allocate resources and time from the appropriate department in ways that aren’t putting our teams into the competition. Instead, real-time digital touchpoints and customer insights can help us to foster a more solid partnership as we work together towards common goals in conversions. 
Digital transformation means accurate content delivery
Another theme throughout the Experience Maker’s Live event was content. Now, more than ever, content is at the center of how you service prospects and customers, showcase your company’s knowledge and insights, and motivate stronger customer relationships and trust.
But it’s not enough to just produce content. You may have a hypothesis about what your customers may want and need, but most importantly, digital transformation allows you to not only know for sure what your customers are looking for, but it helps you deliver that content exactly when they need it. 
In Chris’ second point, he discussed “Agile Communications” for modern businesses, which underscores the need to “increase proactive, personalized and timely communications aligned to customer and employee context” which is based on segment, need, and location, to name a few. The results? “Increase employee engagement and customer retention.” 
Especially in our current economy and with the limitations we are facing, digital delivery of highly relevant and personalized content can make or break your success with a prospect or customer, and this accounts for all stages of the customer journey. It’s not just marketing’s job to create digital assets for lead generation and nurturing for sales, when sales need to increasingly provide accurate content to help customers all the way through the decision making process. 
Digital tools like Marketo Engage help marketing and sales teams track the content that has been shared with prospects and customers. They also help establish clear next steps, answer questions in a timely way, and provide exceptional service even before the purchase has been made. This again allows for alignment internally in ways that see all employees in customer-centric roles supporting each other in enabling the customer through useful, relevant, and timely content. 
Digital transformation means creating new ways of working
You’ve likely heard the term “unprecedented times” so much recently that you’re sick of it. But it is one of the best ways to describe what we’re collectively going through: A widespread fundamental shift in not only how we do business, but how we work. Most of us are learning as we go, adapting on the fly, and finding out through rapid trial and error what works and what doesn’t. And while we’re busy finding the new norm in our own work lives, our customers are experiencing the same. The companies that embrace digital transformation, are the ones who are continuing to succeed.
In another of Chris’ points, he described the “new ways of working” in which we must “leverage remote collaboration, workflows, and meeting platforms.” He also said we need to “use common tools to democratize data, content publishing and leverage AI for scale.”
When it comes to marketing and sales alignment, this becomes blatantly apparent. Collaboration is imperative for success, and gatekeeping, while it may have happened before, cannot stand. Organizations who are able to efficiently move all operations online can see an increase in communication channels when the usual in-person, informal channels are unavailable. But perhaps this is a good thing. We can see how digital transformation of marketing and sales alignment allows for a more tightly run ship: less information slips through the cracks, accountability is more difficult to run from, and unified systems and tools ensures everyone is on the same page. 
While digital transformation is nothing new, our current time has forced many of us to speed up adoption in ways we could have never anticipated. But rather than fear the change, or struggle to adapt, we should look to how it actually enables us to achieve important internal milestones, especially when it comes to marketing and sales alignment. 
The post Why Digital Transformation Is Crucial for Marketing and Sales Alignment appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog – Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

Adobe’s recent Experience Maker’s Live two-day online event was insightful, thoughtful, and informative, just as I predicted. While I knew what kind of high-quality content I could expect from one of their events, I headed into the virtual conference with one pressing question: what exactly is an experience maker?
It didn’t take long before the question was answered. 
The short answer is that an experience maker is a new breed of leader – one who is flexible, puts customers at the center, and is helpful in the most creative ways possible. It’s a crucial outlook on leadership in modern business, especially for those who are looking to improve customer experiences, digitize business processes, and create better internal alignment. 
Let’s look closer at what are Adobe’s big three components of what defines an Experience Maker, as told by Marissa Dacay, Sr. Director, Global Enterprise Marketing at Adobe, and why these qualities are crucial for modern business.
An Experience Maker Is Empathetic
One of the major themes throughout the two-day event was that times have changed drastically, and things will never be the same again. While the message appears foreboding, the truth is, it’s an opportunity – if we can navigate it correctly. In Marissa’s opening statement she explained that these elements are used in ways that are “setting resilient businesses from the rest of the pack.”
One of the biggest, and most important, aspects of an Experience Maker is empathy. Empathy for customers, empathy for colleagues and employees, and empathy for yourself. Knowing that each of these stakeholders is navigating uncertainty and could be struggling with entirely new problems means that you need to care about, and respond to these problems. 
This means rethinking the customer journey, rethinking customer experiences, rethinking content and how you can be helpful and supportive of prospects and customers, and to your own teams. Empathy means “understanding that feelings influence decisions and trust,” and using that in your business decision making.
While initially, some panic meant that companies cut B2B solutions contracts in anticipation of dwindling revenue, many businesses who have leadership and customer-facing employees who are empathetic, are seeing their customer base double down and remain loyal as they’re being helped to weather the storm. As Marissa described it, as modern leaders, “we are not here to merely sell, we’re here to help.”
An Experience Maker Is Adaptable
Another important theme from the EML virtual conference is that if businesses haven’t already begun their digital transformation, it may not be too late, but they will certainly face a bigger uphill battle. The reason primarily being the ability to be adaptable to anything that may come your way. 
Companies and their leaders who focus on digital-first experiences, customer support, and internal collaboration and communication are the ones who have most easily been able to pivot in terms of their position and offerings or adapt internal processes to remote work and new customer journeys. Marissa explained that in these times, there is “power in the pivot. Scenario planning is shifting, and b2b especially needs more late-stage content” for the customer. Experience makers now need to be asking themselves questions like, “how do you get a product demo into virtual content?”
With manual processes, and slow-moving internal organizations, you may have greater difficulty in making this pivot – but all is not lost. Now we’ve seen that our global economy can shift in an instant, and the Experience Makers will help their businesses to be prepared for anything in the future. 
This mentality of “come what may” and ability to be flexible and adapt very quickly, ensures that businesses have the grit to make it out the other side of this trying time, and any others that will inevitably occur in the future.
An Experience Maker Is Inclusive
While audience segmentation and targeting is an important part of marketing and sales, when it comes to modern business, leaders must strive for inclusion. 
This means a few different things: inclusiveness in the broader sense means making sure employees, customers, and other stakeholders alike feel listened to, and that there is content, solutions, and experiences that speak to their needs. As Marissa put it, “your customers are living in a different world and their needs have changed. You must understand your customer in real-time.”
It also means that leaders and businesses must strive to reach higher levels of self-awareness when it comes to their greater role in society, as difficult topics in diversity and equality must be faced head-on. As consumers and employees alike seek to align themselves with companies and individuals who embody important values, experience makers need to be diligent in their self-education, growth, and inclusion in all aspects of the business. 
When drilled down further, we can see that modern businesses need to be continually inclusive in the customer journey. Experience makers then must both proactively anticipate needs in a fully holistic manner and also be able to quickly adapt when a gap in inclusivity is discovered. This means ensuring that customers are able to find and access useful, helpful, and robust information at all stages of their buying journey, before and after purchase. Here is where inclusiveness is also pertinent to internal alignment and establishing flexible, customer-centric processes. 
When it comes to leadership in modern businesses, we are being tested in ways we have never encountered before. But true experience makers can take the hand we’ve been dealt and leverage it for new opportunities that put customers at the center, encouraging relationships, better business models and internal processes, and more satisfaction inside and outside organizations. Leaders now, more than ever, need to be empathetic, adaptable, and inclusive, and then an uncertain future becomes much easier to take on. 
The post 3 Components of an Experience Maker | Why It Matters for Modern Businesses appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog – Best Practices and Thought Leadership.