Marketing leaders are accustomed to pivoting to deliver value against the organizational growth agenda, whether due to economic instability, geopolitical crises, accelerating digital behaviors or shifting customer expectations. But marketing transformation is easier said than done.

According to McKinsey, 70% of large-scale organizational transformation projects fail to meet their objectives. Well-intentioned efforts often get derailed due to poor planning or lack of proper resources to successfully complete each critical step, from research to strategy to execution.

Knowing the potential pitfalls and drivers of success will enable you to transition with confidence, balancing short- and long-term results.

3 barriers to successful marketing transformation

Marketing transformation often fails because of these three factors:

You have a lot of data but no clear view of the baseline. Beginning your transformation strategy without thoroughly assessing quality baseline data across people, processes, technology, vendors and financials impedes the establishment of a credible business case for change.

You’re not alone if you struggle to assess whether your current resources provide sufficient value—especially if you have multiple brands. But this analysis is essential to determine the opportunity for improvement and which approach would help you meet those objectives.

Your operational models, processes, procedures, and resources are disparate and dispersed. Every objective in your marketing transformation journey must begin with a solid understanding of what’s working, what’s not and why.

Executing a thorough in-house opportunity assessment can be difficult and time intensive when marketing resources are spread across local, regional and global markets. Even seasoned marketers struggle to know where to begin or which questions to ask to remove organizational barriers that will inhibit their ability to complete this step successfully.

You do not have in-house change management experts. When your baseline data, measurable objectives, strategy and timeline for your marketing transformation are in place, implementation will falter without expert-level resources to strategically secure stakeholder buy-in.

Engaging stakeholders with the business case for change must start on day one. Focusing on outcomes, not activities, allows you to mitigate costly disruptions and delays.

Opt for an opportunity assessment

When done properly, an opportunity assessment collates and analyzes data to identify opportunities for growth and delivers a strategy to accomplish your growth objectives and goals. It’s underpinned by a commitment to transparency and alignment through approval checkpoints.

An external opportunity assessment provides agnostic interpretations of data and makes unbiased recommendations. Moreover, stakeholders often have an easier time accepting the business case for change from an outside perspective.

How to evaluate a potential external partner

The components of a comprehensive opportunity analysis cover three categories: preparation, discovery, and solution build. Use this framework to assess a potential external partner’s capabilities.

Preparation steps:

• Create a scope of work
• Establish a business case framework
• Gather data
• Map stakeholders
• Create a change management plan and accompanying communications strategy

Discovery steps:

• Conduct a quantitative and qualitative assessment to map the current state across all business units
• Consider one-on-one interviews and group workshops to learn from internal stakeholders
• Review and analyze data
• Evaluate internal and brand-facing technology
• Assess agency partnerships
• Identify opportunities for cost savings, quality improvements, and speed efficiencies

Solution build steps:

• Establish a future model for people, processes, and technology across all brands
• Identify opportunities for automation, digitization, and content management
• Outline an implementation plan
• Establish a long-term roadmap

How to facilitate a successful opportunity assessment partnership

Once you’ve found the right partner for an opportunity assessment, take these steps to contribute to the project’s success.

• Identify an internal project manager to serve as the point person for the opportunity assessment and eventual transformation
• Provide access to data and ways of working in full transparency
• Provide connection to the right people who need to remain informed and engaged
• Execute the change management plan in cooperation with the external partner to elicit buy-in from the executive team and budget holders
• Participate in joint planning with regular reviews and feedback characterized by open and honest engagement

Activate your marketing transformation

Often, an external partnership ends after the delivery of the opportunity assessment results and recommended strategy. Ideally, find a partner for the opportunity assessment that also provides the services for activation. The insight acquired through the opportunity assessment will improve implementation quality and speed the process.