Demand Center Concept: Four Models to Consider
Henry Ford once said that his customers could buy a car in any color – as long as it was black. He eventually regretted his words as an upstart manufacturer by the name of General Motors surpassed Ford’s sales by offering cars in a greater variety of colors and models. When we introduced the demand center concept nearly three years ago, many b-to-b marketing executives viewed it as a panacea for their cost, infrastructure and efficiency woes. As they tried to implement, however, they experienced the folly of blindly pursuing a one-size-fits-all approach. In this post, we define four demand center model options.
Model One: Virtual Demand Center
Often the first step organizations take in their demand center evolution, the virtual demand center is not a discrete function. Instead, it is characterized by strong marketing operations serving as a central hub that virtually connects selected portions of marketing (e.g. product marketing, marketing communications) into a cross-functional committee. Specific services include those typically found in marketing operations (e.g. data services, workflow management) but may include program development and asset management.
Virtual demand centers enable organizations to more broadly leverage specialized skill sets in marketing operations, and realize increased efficiency and effectiveness from more structured collaboration between functions. This model is also an excellent starting point that enables companies to learn with minimal disruption as they evolve.
Model Two: Demand Central
The demand central model is characterized by a highly centralized services team that focus on creating repeatable marketing activities such as data services, long-term nurture flows, workflow management, training and playbook development. For small and medium-sized organizations, demand central will be the primary demand center strategy; for larger global organizations, it often becomes the back-office organization that supports regional demand centers.
Benefits realized by organizations implementing a demand central model include improved leverage of marketing best practices, a more efficient demand waterfall, and greater consistency in the deployment and execution of global marketing programs. Also, field marketing is often relieved of some duties taken on by the demand center and is therefore better able to focus on supporting sales deeper in the waterfall.
Model Three: Regional Demand Center
Regional demand centers are geographically based centers of excellence that provide demand creation-related shared services; they often emerge from and are supported by a demand central model that was previously implemented in larger, global organizations. Services provided include advisory, assembly and/or execution services in are as such as program creation, teleservices and lead management.
The regional demand center model provides greater leverage, sophistication and consistency of marketing campaigns and programs across global regions. Implementation often results in an overall reduction in the number of campaigns created and launched because those built are more effective and easier to leverage. This model also provides local marketers with the equivalent of an internal agency, which allows them to focus more resources on execution.
Model Four: Specialized Demand Center
Specialized demand centers focus on specific industries or a limited number of companies. Services provided include account-based marketing (ABM) including both current account marketing and large account marketing, pipeline acceleration and perhaps account-specific sales enablement. Due to the narrowed focus on specific verticals or named accounts and the sensitive nature of marketing in these situations, specialized centers often define their strategic marketing contribution with significant direction from sales.
Like the previous two models, the specialized demand center model improves campaign sophistication and consistency. Services provided by specialized demand centers free field marketers to focus on tactical execution and make field sales reps more efficient and effective in their efforts to source business from specific verticals and large, complex accounts.
When planning a demand center strategy, begin by considering the unique circumstances of your organization. In the context of your go-to-market strategy, resources and skill sets in local markets, current areas of strength and weakness at central and local levels should define the specific services that the demand center will provide. If prior experience with demand centers is lacking, we recommend starting with a virtual demand center or pilot effort to minimize disruption during the learning process. Finally, keep in mind that even the best plans will likely fail in the absence of effective internal communications. Be sure to clearly define the role of the demand center model selected and ensure that all stakeholders are fully aware of its responsibilities and how to properly engage with it.