Pushing ideas through the organisation

The marketer’s guide to pushing ideas through the organisation

We live in a world that bombards us with competing marketing messages.

B2B businesses can only win the attention – and ultimately the business –

of senior decision makers through the quality of their thinking.

What’s the big idea?

Copyright Man Bites Dog 2016. Please share and credit. www.manbitesdog.com

http://www.manbitesdog.com

Ideas-led sales and marketing is

the only marketing that stands out.

Great thinking is in demand



A rock and a hard placeFinding the right big idea is crucial*.

But that’s only the first hurdle. The next challenge is protecting the idea

and pushing it through the organisation.

*Visit http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/no-idea/ for more information


http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/no-idea/


The rock

92% of CMOs* say…

“It is my responsibility to champion innovation at board

level”

*Man Bites Dog Crisis of Creativity study. Visit http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/crisis-of-creativity/

for more information


http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/crisis-of-creativity/


The hard place

But here’s the rub, nearly 60%* also believe…

“The leaders of my organisation kill creativity dead”*Man Bites Dog Crisis of Creativity study. Visit http://

www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/crisis-of-creativity/ for more information




Lack of strategic focus

When little currency is given to the quality of ideas, marketing

initiatives lack strategic focus and have little

impact.



Championing Ideas

So, how do you get the

buy in needed to push ideas through the

organisation? Copyright Man Bites Dog 2016. Please share and credit. www.manbitesdog.com


Step 1: Identifying your stakeholders

Identifying your stakeholders

You don’t need everyone on board, just those that matter.

The Red Herring

The VisionaryThe Blocker

The Cheerleader in

fluen

ce

buy-in Copyright Man Bites Dog 2016. Please share and credit. www.manbitesdog.com


The Blocker

Openly sceptical with the power to block

new ideas and influence others.



The Red Herring

Time wasters who make a lot of negative noise but have little or

no influence on decision making.



The Visionary

Champions marketing within the organisation. Often a senior decision maker who is open to supporting new ideas.



The Cheerleader

A supporter and enthusiast but

unfortunately, not a key decision maker.



Step 2: Gaining buy-in

You should focus your time on people who can make make or

break a campaign: the The

Visionary and the The Blocker.

Here are a few tried and tested strategies...



Find a champion

Identify The Visionary in the business who can help carry your idea forward. Arm them with the tools they need to

advocate and influence on your behalf.



Focus on the big pictureDemonstrate how your idea is clearly aligned

with the objectives of the business.



Demonstrate client and customer demand

Show that your idea matters to clients and explain how it’s aligned to their needs.



Measure what’s important

Create a measurement framework to manage

expectations and demonstrate that you intend to measure the

commercial return of ideas. Don't try and measure every

metric; focus on the one or two that are most important to the

business.



Encourage collaboration

Involve The Blocker and The Visionary in the idea creation process. Create a sense of

ownership from the start.



Think commerciallyGet the sales team bought in from the start. Join the dots between your idea and content that will generate an effective commercial conversation.



Limit interferenceHave a tightly controlled approval process that

creates horses, not camels*.

*Huh? A camel is a horse designed by a committee of course!



Share successes

Actively praise and promote the work of employees that have been involved in

creating the marketing idea. People love to be part of something successful.



Make your idea tangible

Have a clear and realistic plan with key outcomes up front. Don’t set yourself up to fail.



Fight for your idea

You are the marketing expert. Get passionate about ideas, it’s infectious.



For a taster workshop on ideas-led sales and marketing, and how to push ideas

through your business.

To download our ‘No Idea?’ toolkit to help you generate commercially effective ideas.

If you need someone to do the heavy lifting on your latest PR and marketing challenge.

Get in touch today…

[email protected] // 01273 716 820Copyright Man Bites Dog 2016. Please share and credit. www.manbitesdog.com

mailto:[email protected]


We generate ideas that deliver remarkable commercial impact for business brands.

We specialise in strategy, content and communications for the world’s smartest organisations.

Man Bites Dog is Europe’s most award-winning B2B marketing and public

relations consultancy.

Further reading http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/no-idea/

http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/crisis-of-creativity/ http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/follow-the-leader/


http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/no-idea/


http://www.manbitesdog.com/campaigns/follow-the-leader/


Marketing

Pushing ideas through the organisation