The job of the CMO is changing rapidly. As our Managing Partner Bob Murphy said in his MarketingProfs article, “How CMOs can Prove Their ROI in the C-Suite,” top-level marketers juggle multiple tasks, including navigating the digital sphere, satisfying company stakeholders and contributing to sales. Some have risen to these new challenges, while others have been crushed by them.
What’s the difference between today’s successful CMOs and those who can’t keep up? It’s data. For a long time, data and digital tools have had a track record of helping CMOs not just prove their worth, but prove it relative to others in their field–and now it’s imperative that CMOs take advantage of those tools to stay afloat. Today, let’s discuss how to stay savvy in the face of new challenges.
Here are a few ideas:
While most marketers today understand how important digital media is to marketing success, the skills needed to stay savvy in digital are constantly becoming more demanding. Today, two-thirds of CMOs report that they’re not ready to cope with social media. Why are they falling behind?
To be successful in the digital sphere (and everywhere else), high-level marketers need to be able to identify the tools and resources that allow them to operate on new platforms. In terms of social media, a CMO needs to understand that they’ll need the efforts of a copywriter with social media experience, a data analyst who can crunch the numbers that come from their Twitter and Facebook activity, and a mid-level manager to develop a distinct social media strategy and oversee its execution. Moreover, they’ll need the tools to manage this execution. Whether that’s Hootsuite to organize activity or Google Analytics to analyze data, marketers need to stay equipped with the tools that allow them to understand the effects of their efforts.
82% of CMOs say they’re unprepared to structure operations around big data. However, the ones who do use these new tools report higher financial returns and better customer relationships. Why is this?
As you may guess, it’s because of the new marketing value chain. By structuring operations around the insights that data provides, CMOs can oversee more efficient, agile teams that understand how to adapt their operations to data-based insights and develop more targeted, meaningful marketing campaigns.
Marketing tools, technologies and approaches have changed a lot in recent years, and they’re sure to keep on changing. If you want to stay savvy, you have to make continued, self-directed education a priority. It’s as simple as that.
Let us know: how are you staying savvy in the face of new marketing platforms and opportunities?
Photo credit: Sebastiaan ter Burg via Flickr Creative Commons
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