As a marketing leader, do you ever feel like the tree that fell in the forest—you just don’t know if anyone can really hear you? It’s challenging to win the hearts and minds of the C-suite. One reason may be that your company’s old perception of marketing prevents you from reaching your true potential.
As a marketing leader, do you ever feel like the tree that fell in the forest—you just don’t know if anyone can really hear you? It’s challenging to win the hearts and minds of the C-suite. One reason may be that your company’s old perception of marketing prevents you from reaching your true potential.
In the past, the “service provider” model for marketing worked fine: Marketing did research, planned campaigns, defined targets, created campaigns, launched them, and measured success. This traditional model has two limitations: it forces CMOs into reactive order taker mode, and makes many executives with no marketing experience feel as if they can master marketing in just a few easy steps.
The need for a CMO’s team to research, create, launch, and measure initiatives will never disappear. In fact, it will intensify, and revenue performance management and multi-touch customer listening posts become more commonplace.
If your company is truly motivated and willing to make the shift toward becoming a market leader and a customer-centric organization, you need new responsibilities and knowledge. These include shifting from:
| Old CMO competencies | New CMO competencies |
|---|---|
|
Lead generation and awareness builder (top of the funnel)
|
Customer experience modeler (multiple touch points in the funnel)
|
|
IT user
|
Technology strategist
|
|
Marketing organization builder
|
Cross-functional organization expert
|
|
Brand ambassador
|
Company Culture ambassador
|
If you can master these areas, you can more easily navigate the rugged CMO landscape and thick underbrush.
What aspect of your marketing model are you consciously changing?
copyright 2013, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.
