Key to their work is the development of data management tools and processes that help companies maintain a consistent brand image and support it despite increasing complexity.
Acquire new marketing capabilities
The changing environment demands new marketing capabilities , both within the marketing organization and across the enterprise.
Within marketing, for example, the ability to build brands across an increasing number of media, including vehicles dominated by user-generated content, will be critical.
Many companies will have to manage a greater number of advertising and PR agencies and develop new skills to create integrated messages.
There will also be analytical muscles to build, such as the data management skills needed to compare and maximize the effectiveness of online and offline marketing spend.
Many of these skills, such as experience in the commercial use of social media, digital marketing or emerging markets, require a degree of specialization that complements the general capabilities of traditional marketing managers.
As a result, many companies will be forced to restructure their marketing and sales organizations by creating centers of excellence for key marketing capabilities.
And, perhaps, outsourcing marketing activities that require specialized skills.
CMOs’ skill-building challenges likely won’t stop within their own departments.
The far-reaching customer-centric changes taking place today are too significant.
CMOs are indispensable to meeting tomorrow’s customer and marketing italy business mailing list challenges . But CEOs must also take an active role .
Not only because those challenges are big, but also because close involvement will help you know if your CMOs have the right mix of skills.
Today, however, many CEOs spend little time on marketing challenges and leave them to the CMO.
One reason: The percentage of CEOs with marketing backgrounds has declined in favor of operations or finance people.
Here are three simple ideas for CEOs looking to help their CMOs ensure their companies thrive:
Take the time to understand what's really going on with your customers.
Many of today's marketing reviews focus on brand image and financial results. Instead, one must discover how the needs of different customer segments are evolving .
Who is telling you what blog, who are the product influencers, and how customers are changing their approach to decision making.
In these areas, advances in technology allow companies to gain a level of insight that is astonishing compared to what was possible just three years ago.