Client success

Setting Up an Organization for Success through Marketing Transformation

A nationwide benefits organization wasn’t coming close to meeting its aggressive revenue goals. To get back on track, it needed cross-departmental alignment around goals and priorities, and an effective marketing and communications strategy.

The Challenge

A national health and retirement benefits organization was experiencing declining sales of one of its core products. While the company thought it offered a strong set of benefits, it was losing market share to competitors and falling short on revenue goals.

It needed to figure out where things were going wrong – fast. An initial audit conducted by Standing Partnership revealed several issues that were holding the organization back, including a lack of agreement on priorities, marketing programs that weren’t aligned with business goals, and an infrastructure that didn’t set teams up for success.

The strategy experts at Standing Partnership knew that with a bit of guidance, it was possible to get everyone rowing in the same direction and restore confidence in the ability of the marketing team to drive growth.

The result is a cohesive leadership team aligned on priorities and goals, and a marketing team well prepared to drive bottom-line growth with measurable ROI.

Solving complex problems for complex industries

Our Solution

Standing developed a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the organization’s growth challenges, including:

1. Competitive Audit: researched how the organization reached its customers and delivered on its value proposition in comparison to major competitors

2. Target Market Analysis: evaluated customer preferences and demographics, mapped the buyer’s journey and established personas, developed more effective, targeted communications for each profile

3. Strategic Planning: built a shared vision of success, linked measurable goals to business objectives, developed a comprehensive marketing plan and processes for managing activities

4. Marketing & Sales Alignment: developed a process for the marketing/communications team to link strategy, messaging and metrics to business priorities and revenue goals

5. Communications Audit: refined positioning and messaging to create customized communications for each target audience segment

6. Team Building:

Assessment: developed and implemented an organizational structure that would help the marketing team operate effectively and address missing skills/knowledge
Engagement: helped the marketing team identify its strengths, weaknesses and roadblocks, and uncover opportunities for alignment with corporate goals
Technology: evaluated MarTech needs, selected and implemented CRM and marketing automation services

7. Change Management: identified the organizational, business and cultural changes required to successfully execute on the new corporate strategy

The Impact

With Standing Partnership’s guidance, the benefits organization made its way through a significant cultural shift.

Companywide alignment around priorities have positioned the organization for growth. Measurable goals linked to business objectives keep sales and marketing working toward shared success. Customer insights are being used to shape strategic plans for key market segments, and to develop relevant messaging across integrated marketing communications.

The result is a cohesive leadership team aligned on priorities and goals, and a marketing team well prepared to drive bottom-line growth with measurable ROI.

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