Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): No Longer Just the Bullhorn for the Brand
CMOs cannot - nor should not - underestimate the power of a resilient brand strategy which keeps them in step with the needs of modern customers.
Customer needs are always evolving and as such, so too are their demands – pair this currently with what can only be described as a challenging competitive landscape and it’s clear to see that that marketing teams face significant challenges in their pursuit to keep pace with the wider business.
Marketing success depends on generating new customers and anticipating, understanding, and fulfilling their needs. Achieving this requires skills that encompass marketing strategy, customer experience, and business innovation – more than that though it requires a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) who is more than just a bullhorn for the brand but an agent of change.
Chief Marketing Officer: No Longer Just the Bullhorn for the Brand
Marketing transformation has become a core business focus as 2020 has advanced, the consumer is more distant than they’ve ever been and as such, an effective marketing reshuffle is already helping many businesses to activate and reactivate consumers.
CMOs cannot – nor should not – underestimate the power of a resilient brand strategy which keeps them in step with the needs and sentiments of the modern consumer. An effective Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will do this by considering the following:
Ethos – Consumers want to know that brands care about their employees and their communities, and they want proof. Customers have become more critical of the businesses that they shop with, with many consumers now looking at how specific enterprises align to their personal aims and intentions, Ketchum recently revealed that 45% of consumers had changed brand preferences since the beginning of 2020.
Technology – Digital transformation is a core pursuit for all businesses everywhere and CMOs should also consider the implementation of modern technology to help them rejuvenate their potential. According to Statista, as of September 2020, the total value of the Marketing Technology industry had reached $121.5bn, the time to invest is now.
Experience – An effective Chief Marketing Officer will work out their data and tech capabilities and investments in order to craft experiences for the consumer which are adaptable, resilient and consequently, memorable for end users. Financesonline claims that 91% of consumers have more positive feelings about brands after joining events and experiences, if true, can any CMO really afford not to provide?
The Modern Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
The Modern Chief Marketing Officer is an agent of change, they will adapt to the uncertain climate that they find themselves in and use all innovative solutions available to them to incite revolution both within the marketing department and to all other business segments that it touches.
On the value of the CMO, Caren Fleit, MD for Korn Ferry’s Global Marketing Officers recently stated, “Covid heightened the need for marketing to become more innovative, consumer-centric, mission-driven, and authentic, making these skills and the CMOs who have them, more important than ever.”
Evolving Role
A truly modern Chief Marketing Officer can be whatever the business needs them to be, and in many ways, they have had to adopt the skills of other members of the senior leadership team to see this done. A modern CMO must have the digital and technical skills of a CTO, they require the people skills of a CHRO, and they are required to shore up budget for their operations much like a CFO will.
It seems that the list of matters seeing irreversible change in 2020 is ever-expanding, and this is certainly no different where the CMO is concerned. Prior to 2020, we expected those in the position to serve as a bullhorn for their respective brand and organization, now, after seeing their potential to connect the business and the consumer across multiple different segments and channels, we expect them to do nothing less than revolutionize marketing interactions with the consumer in order to deliver results.
Continue the debate at the CMO Insight Summit, a GDS Summit, where we bring together senior marketing executives who are actively seeking to share, learn, engage, and find the best solutions.
GDS Group hosts experts to help experts. We strive to provide an atmosphere for our attendees that enable them to confidently lead their companies through major transformation projects. For information on upcoming events, view our Digital Summits. To remain current on our activities, visit GDS Group on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter.
