How CMOs Can Keep Their Jobs

The average tenure of a Chief Marketing Officer is 44 months, and the number of first-time CMOs jumped 31% in the past year, according to a recent study by executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

So what’s the deal? Why do “CMOs continue to remain under siege,” as Greg Welch from Spencer Stuart describes it?

From what I’ve seen, these turbulent CMO waters are not just the result of never-ending pressure for better results, but also come from a general lack of sophistication of those landing in the seat.  

While CMOs, especially those who rise through the ranks, might understand a number of digital tactics, they lack a comprehensive understanding of how the new marketing world works. As we hear all the time, the rise of the savvy digital consumer has changed everything. The question is, exactly how?

That’s why CMOs need a sophisticated understanding of how — and when — the array of channels, technologies and strategies should be deployed.
The first job of marketing leadership is to ensure a brand has an integrated strategy, with each component in the marketer’s toolbox fitting into a bigger picture.

While individual tactics may be effective, the real value over time comes from the way an integrated system shares data and insights and develops a profile of a consumer’s behavior. This combines with the system’s ability to classify viewers, track activity, deliver targeted content, communicate and measure performance.  

Integrated marketing technology, now so readily available, enables companies to automate much of this daily work of finding, cultivating, converting and retaining customers, while also helping to ensure all interactions work to strengthen the brand and move the sales process forward.

But software and integrated process are not enough. Having a capability and knowing what to do with it are two different things. That’s why the underlying strategic planning that a brand must do is an essential foundation of a successful system.  

Planning tells the system how to segment and understand the audience, what messaging and content to use at every interaction, where and when to interact, and which tactics and channels to use. Planning stocks the system with the knowledge and insights it will need for the heat of battle, equipping it not only to be in the right place, but also deliver the right message every time.

Despite enthusiastic forays into digital channels and upgrades to various marketing assets, a considerable number of companies still haven’t connected the marketing dots and are now wondering what they are doing wrong.  What they may fail to realize is that in a world where the consumer rules, brands have little choice but to do everything well and super-serve their consumers — and about the only way to do that is with an integrated marketing system.

The good news is that, unlike in days past, when marketing success required marketing genius, the biggest opportunity for many companies today is just to get a modern marketing system in place. In and of itself that can still bring terrific competitive advantages to companies across the spectrum.

Soon these kinds of integrated systems will be table stakes, but for now they’re still game-changers.

by Tony Quin
Courtesy of mediapost