As marketing professionals, we have a very good understanding of the methods, tools and approaches needed to get our job done. But frequently the powers that be — senior leadership and the board at institutions — are on the fringes. At best, they have a “loose” understanding of what marketing is, its value and how it’s done.

We work with many clients in helping them engage senior leadership to think like marketers. And it’s worth it. Here’s why:

1. It educates people who are not traditional “marketeers” about how we do what we do — and that adds value to the marketing department.
2. Engaging senior leadership in marketing discussions establishes buy-in — important when you are launching major initiatives, campaigns or brand repositioning and strategies.
3. It eliminates the “surprise factor.” We’ve all heard in our careers that once a campaign has been launched, someone inevitably says: “Hey where did that come from?” By engaging senior leaders in your thought process they feel empowered and involved — and that’s a marketing person’s strongest position.
4. By taking senior leadership through the marketing process and some of the methodologies, it educates them to the value of marketing and introduces them to the science of it.

So how do you engage them in a way that is welcomed? At Bennett Group, we have our own proprietary process called Brainstorming Day®, but I suggest that marketing VPs and directors can conduct their own insight sessions with key leaders. You can make the process your own, but here’s a suggested technique that can be fun, interactive and valuable.

Invite participation in a question-and-answer game. Have all present answer seemingly simple but very important questions.
• Who is our key target?
• What do we provide to them?
• Who is our competition?
• Why are we better than our competition?
• How do we provide services better than our competition?
• What is our promise to our patient?

The format can be your choice. Each of the participants can write down their answers on a piece of paper or all the answers can be written down on a white board and combined and edited down until a single answer is agreed upon. At first glance, these questions seem obvious and overly general, but trust me that the divergence of answers you get will set off healthy discussions — and even healthy disagreements. You’d be surprised how different interests around the table present different opinions.

And why is that important to you? It generates real discussions about what the institution stands for, what it provides and how it delivers services better than other options in your market. If the senior leadership can’t agree on what makes you different, how can you deliver a positive brand or service promise through to the consumer? It also educates and forces senior leadership to participate in what that answer is. And for solid branding or marketing to take place, there has to be agreement on all these defining points of difference.

This kind of activity doesn’t eliminate the need to do regular and thorough opinion surveys and focus groups in your market. You’ll want to hear from your constituencies about how they judge your quality, expertise and strengths. But internal discussions like this — combined with consumer research — can be a powerful roadmap to delivering on the customer promise and approaching the consumer from a position of strength.

We’ve found that it’s very helpful to engage the board or senior leadership after you have conducted your opinion survey in the market. The answers you get from leadership many times don’t jive with the consumer perception, and that creates an opportunity for you to challenge your leaders with the reality of the consumer opinion. This can be instructive and, again, help senior leaders understand that good marketing is about promoting your brand and services in a way that meets the needs of your audiences.

It’s not just about what they think. It’s about what's important to the potential target. And that will increase success, get buy-in and support, increase understanding and, more importantly, make you look like the star.