Now that Theo Epstein has finally been named Cubs’ president of baseball operations, I was struck by the similarity between expectations for the new Cubs’ leader and business-to-business marketers.As a lifelong Cubs’ fan, like many others in Chicago I’m hoping that Epstein will finally lift the curse that‘s followed the team and produce a World Series champion. Expectations are high because the Cubs paid a high price to bring him into the fold, and the team already has a big payroll.
A Forrester Research study, “Bigger B2B Marketing Budgets Come With Great Expectations” raises similar issues for marketers. The report noted that after several years of making cuts, B2B marketing leaders have larger budgets in 2011. However, with these increases in spending comes more scrutiny and greater expectations for results.
Another parallel between the Cubs and B2B marketers is that the raised expectations are coming during a time when the landscape for both baseball and marketing is dramatically changing. Baseball is now making greater use of computer analytics.
Likewise, marketers are facing new challenges to effectively understand how to track, manage and apply many of the new social media tools, online marketing channels and changing customer expectations.
The bottom line, though, is that both Epstein and marketers must effectively use their budgets to achieve results. For many marketers, that means integrating conventional techniques with new online tactics. Marketers need to better understand the impact marketing and technology integration can have in making customer experiences more gratifying and satisfying, thereby improving loyalty, retention and repeat purchases.
