Situation
A significant portion of profits for Caterpillar comes from parts and services. The competitive landscape was tough, and the importance of digital customer experience was growing. Caterpillar’s Product Support division needed help creating a unified marketing strategy and customer-facing experience, but sub-groups within the division needed to align internally first.
Challenges
Caterpillar’s Product Support division faced several challenges leading to high costs, inefficient processes, and a diluted brand message:
- Siloed Marketing Campaigns: Independent marketing efforts among sub-groups led to inconsistent messaging and fragmented communications.
- Channel Fragmentation: Different channels used by sub-groups resulted in disconnected content, even on the corporate website.
- Varied Readiness Levels: Sub-groups were at different stages of digital marketing maturity, resulting in varied content and communication quality.
- Different Success Metrics: Each sub-group had unique success metrics based on their specific product needs.
Goals
- Create a unified value proposition applicable across all product groups.
- Develop a replicable digital strategy for media, website, and lead conversion activities.
- Design a conceptual model for a unified division website on Cat.com.
Actions
As a strategist, I worked closely with Product Support leaders to address these challenges through several key activities:
- Stakeholder Alignment: Conducted global stakeholder alignment sessions and performed comprehensive stakeholder analysis.
- Strategic Recommendations: Developed strategic recommendations based on global research, focusing on aligning messaging, content, and channels with business goals.
- Ecosystem Map Creation: Created a 20-foot long ecosystem map with wireframes to illustrate a unified digital marketing strategy.
- Collaborative Workshops: Conducted collaborative workshops to refine the strategy.
Results
- Built a Shared Vision: Successfully aligned cross-functional teams and leadership under a unified vision, increasing marketing effectiveness and enhancing customer experience.
- Sparked Dialogue and Innovation: Galvanized the Product Support unit, sparked open dialogue and innovation, and inspired future digital marketing activities crafted with the shared vision in mind.
- Inspired Future Actions: The ecosystem map and strategic recommendations provided a clear direction for integrating and improving content and campaigns.
Personal Lessons Learned
- Conducting thorough stakeholder analysis was crucial for consensus building and ensuring individual goals were reflected in the strategy.
- Visualization tools like the ecosystem map were vital for communicating complex ideas, engaging stakeholders, and fostering collaboration.
- Visual storytelling facilitated better interaction, idea generation, and alignment across the organization, highlighting its importance in strategic initiatives.
Additional Details
I aligned stakeholders across the globe
Gathering stakeholders across the globe together for a facilitated discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing the unit.
I developed strategic recommendations from global research
Developing strategic recommendations from global research which considered all sub-groups, their goals, and their marketing needs.Strategic recommendations considered:
- Alignment of messaging, content, and channels with business goals across diverse set of customers, regions, and dealers.
- Alignment with companies’s customer journey map framework and Learn/Shop/Buy model
- Integration with POPs business units
- Connectivity of multiple experiences & platforms
- Early ideas for integrating messaging in the technology/ solutions space
I built a 20-foot long ecosystem map with wireframes
Building a 20-foot long ecosystem map with wireframes to illustrate a radically different digital marketing and website strategy. We affectionately refer to this as the “monster map”.
The map is blurred for confidentiality, but it itself visualized:
- How existing Product Support content, platforms, and campaigns could be integrated
- How new content and campaigns could be incorporated
- How a consistent framework for product support messaging, content, and layout would unify the experience (even if on different platforms)
- Key on the left side provided definitions for icons used throughout the map
I conducted collaborative workshops and presented map
Conducted collaborative workshops and presented map to leadership, marketing manager, and team members, each time gaining deeper buy-in.
I Iterated the map based on feedback from others
Iterated the map based on feedback from others. Soon, the map represented a shared vision where all parties could see where they fit into the mix and understood the value of combining forces.