Reference Programs & Reporting Structure

Someone recently posted a question to one of my LinkedIn groups where Reference/Loyalty Programs report in organizations. I have heard over the years of reference programs being part of Marketing, Marketing Communications, Public Relations, Sales, Field Marketing, and Product Marketing. Some things that influence where the program reports into is company size, industry, program objectives, executive sponsor, etc. So keep in mind there's no right way. However all three times I've worked with reference programs the program was part of corporate marketing which I loved because it meant I stayed in the loop on corporate objectives/messaging and I was able to get my materials developed and posted quickly.

Maeve Naughton (Reference program expert at http://customerreferences.wordpress.com/) says it really depends on what the main goal of the program is. When you work in Corporate Communications, the main goal is to get more press releases, case studies and analyst reference done yet Sales references were also critical. When you work on the Field Marketing team you are focused on offering Sales references yet press releases, case studies and analyst references were also important. Maeve suggests you ask the questions: "What's your main goal? "What group has executive sponsorship for the program?" and "What group wants the program the most

Here are some survey results:

• Forrester (May, 2010 - "What AR Can Learn from Customer Reference Managers), in answer to the question, "Where does reference management responsibility reside?" - the breakdown is 57% Corporate Marketing, 11% Public Relations, 19% Other, 7% Sales, and 6% Product/service group.
• Customer Reference Forum survey - As part of the Customer Reference Forum conference, Bill Lee surveys customer reference managers and shares the results. This is great information as it's broken down by company size and shows trending from 2007 to 2008. The breakdown for all companies was 54% Corporate Marketing, 15% Sales Support/Operations, 13% Public Relations, 13% other and 7% product marketing. Click here to see full report