This session was presented at the 2014 Forum Forward event of Association Forum of Chicagoland.

1. Marketing vs. IT: Let the Battle Begin

2. Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to
witness is real. The participants are not actors.
They are the actual people who have already
either filed suit or been served a summons to
appear in an Illinois municipal court. Both
parties in the suit have agreed to dismiss
their court cases and have their disputes settled
here, in our forum:

3. The
Association
Court

4. Justice will be served...

5. Who is in our Studio Audience?
Is your primary job function:
–Marketing and/or Membership
–IT
–Other

6. Cast of Today’s Show
• Judge: Marilyn Jansen, Director, Marketing & Business
Development, Association Management Center
• Plaintiff: Bruce Hammond, Senior Manager, Corporate Marketing &
Communications, Association Management Center
• Defendant: Janice Plack, Senior Director, Operations, Accreditation
Association for Ambulatory Health Care
• Court Reporter: Amanda Pairitz, Operations Manager, American
Pain Society

7. Why does this tension exist?
In this day and age, most projects require separate
Marketing and IT processes to become more fully
integrated into one process.
There is a natural tension here, and it is not simply
a people issue or personality conflict!

8. How do we reconcile these
two?

9. Step 1: Facilitate Dialogue
“There is nothing so annoying as to have two
people talking when you're busy
interrupting.”
~Mark Twain

10. Dialogue Requires Empathy
Marketing people are...
• Creative, problem-solvers
• Charged with driving revenue that
supports the entire association
• Plying a trade that is one part
science, one part art
• Driven by deadlines
• Responsible for the most visible
aspect of the association
• Language driven
IT people are...
• Creative, problem-solvers
• Charged with designing systems,
processes, and efficiencies
• Plying a trade that is specific,
concrete, and decision-driven
• Driven by accountability; there is no
room for error
• Responsible for the most valuable
security, data, and operational
aspects of the association
• Data driven

11. How do we facilitate dialogue?
• Marketing should bring IT to the table at the beginning
• IT should ask clarifying questions to drill down to true needs
• Produce/share visual examples as a way to brainstorm
• Create cross-functional teams that approach projects together
• Speak in language each group understands

12. Questions to Consider
• Why are we doing this? What is the business need being
addressed?
• What resources are available? Financial? Human? Time?
• What are the risks associated? What will success look
like? What will constitute a nonsuccess?
• What is the timeline associated with this?
• Who is project sponsor? Who are the stakeholders?

13. How do we facilitate dialogue?
• Marketing should bring IT to the table at the beginning
• IT should ask clarifying questions to drill down to true needs
• Produce/share visual examples as a way to brainstorm
• Create cross-functional teams that approach projects together
• Speak in language each group understands

14. Marketing & IT Collaboration:
Develop Solutions Together

15. Dialogue Requires Empathy
Marketing people are like...
• Symphony Conductors
...they must create
compelling, powerful
music that appeals to a
broad audience and
opens hearts and minds
IT people are like...
• Emergency Room Doctors
...they must analyze
symptoms, diagnose
problems, perform
surgery under pressure,
and not make mistakes

16. Is there a process for dialogue?
• Aligning discussions from beginning with strategic
goals/plans/outcomes
• Proactive and open communication between departments/people
• Open discussions and sharing
• Mutual acceptance of creative tension
• Samples/testing/dry runs
• Review and assessment of goals together---did we meet our goals?

17. Step 2: Communicating Strategy
“The future belongs to those who believe in
the beauty of their dreams.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt

18. How do we forge a shared vision?
• The key is prioritization
• List major technical and marketing components
• Prioritize them based on strategy—what is most important?
• Review them together and agree on a prioritized list of criteria that help
you design/research/build etc.
• Remember: Every decision that is made has trade-offs, you must
know what is most important going in!

19. Step 3: Solving Problems
“It is a mistake to think you can solve any
major problems just with potatoes.”
~Douglas Adams

20. How do we solve problems?
• Learn more about the roles and skills of your marketing/IT
counterparts
• Respectfully challenge each other to provide
ideas/potential solutions and evaluate them together
• Brainstorm several solutions to the same problem
• Marketing and IT should come up with solutions together
• Collaborate, communicate, celebrate

21. Verdict?

22. Contact Us
Bruce Hammond Marilyn Jansen
bhammond@connect2amc.com mjansen@connect2amc.com
(847) 375-6366 (847) 375-4811
Janice Plack Amanda Pairitz
jplack@aaahc.org apairitz@americanpainsociety.org
(847) 853-6060 (847) 375-6332