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What is activation, and how does it differ from execution?
In chemistry, activation is the slight transformation of a molecule or atom into a condition capable or reacting. In other words, it’s the process of taking a substance from dormant to reactive.
In B2B marketing, activation is the process of taking a well-defined strategy and translating into tactics that get results in market. A strategy is just words, after all. Activation is the process of taking that strategy and putting it to work.
Let’s look at an example. Say you have a robust collection of intent data. That data is potentially valuable — but not until it’s activated. Activating your data means choosing the metrics you want to measure and implementing a system to sort and analyze data. With these components in place, your data becomes usable, ready to inform your marketing actions.
Another example is brand activation. Brand activation is an intentional marketing campaign that produces engagement with your brand. These activations allow your audience to form a lasting connection with your brand. They enable a reaction.
Activation and execution are similar but not synonymous. In theory, execution means putting your strategy into action. But execution can be myopic, repetitive, and divorced from strategy. Activation is the magic ingredient that turns on your strategy. It’s the tools, tactics, and processes that make your strategy work.
There are four pillars to successful activation. Hint: these pillars rest on a firm base of synchrony.
Let’s go back to chemistry for a second. Activating a substance requires activation energy: the minimum amount of energy needed for a substance to be ready for transformation.
The four pillars of marketing activation are your activation energy. They are what enable you to execute a strategy that gets results. They’re all the little details that happen behind the scenes and make your strategy work. And your activation energy rests in the basic principle of getting your teams to work together, across functions, toward a common campaign goal.
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