I’ve been working as a marketer or consulting to marketers for over 25 years. And throughout my career, never have I seen a better time for the individual sitting in the CMO’s seat to step forward and help drive success at his or her company.

If one believes the adage, “information is power”, then never has there been as much power at the finger tips of the lead marketer. And if one believes that growth comes from knowing how to take advantage of marketplace opportunities before your competition does, then never has the need to understand that information been so important. And if one believes that in this still-fragile economy, the ability to grow will determine who wins and who loses, then never has the opportunity to apply that information been so critical.

The question is not, “can the CMO be a leader within the company?” The question is, “how can the CMO’s voice influence and drive the overall business strategy?” This is a fundamental question in our 4th Annual CMO’s Agenda research initiative, which provides insight into and suggests pathways for success for those sitting in the CMO seat.

Pre-register – Receive the 4th Annual CMO’s
Agenda by E-mail Upon Release!

When I first broke into the advertising business in 1984, few companies even had CMOs… and fewer yet gave them a say in helping drive business strategy. During my time on Madison Avenue, I sat in the room with dozens of lead marketers from some of the most prominent companies in the world. And inevitably, those marketers spent more time using the information they had to justify their actions than providing forward-looking strategies to help their companies grow.

In the early 90’s I jumped the fence and “went client-side” with one of the most aggressive companies this country has ever known, battling one of the largest incumbents in the world. It was the period of the phone wars, and I was with MCI. It was there that I truly learned about the power of information. Knowing more about your customers than the other guy did. Knowing more about their customers than they did. Knowing your competitors strengths and weaknesses, and how they played against your strengths and weaknesses. However, it wasn’t just about knowing more, it was about knowing how to use that information effectively, nimbly, deftly.

Since the late 90’s, I have been helping lead marketers leverage customer and marketplace knowledge to effectively compete and win in the marketplace. Yet in recent years, never have the challenges been so great, nor the need been so critical. For companies to be successful today, they must be able to find sources of growth in a throttled global economy. For lead marketers to be successful, they must intimately understand their company’s business model so that they can help their CEO make forward-looking decisions.

This means CMOs must not only understand their craft, but they must also understand the critical levers of their business and which ones will positively impact their position in the marketplace. And they must couple this with knowledge about their customers, their prospects, their competitors to create forward-looking strategies on where the market is headed in order help their CEO chart a course for sustained growth.

Most importantly, a forward-looking strategy must consider the one thing that has changed the marketing paradigm more in the past five years than anything has in the past twenty-five: the advent of social media. Your target audience, whoever they are, gathers information differently today. And because information is power to them as well, understanding how to get the right information to them is more important than ever. And more difficult than ever. The successful CMOs understand this and are embracing it within the culture of their organization. Which means embracing a new generation of lieutenants that can help them navigate channels of target audience interaction and influence born in a completely different age.

It is an exciting, challenging, vital time for CMOs. For those that embrace the opportunity, they have the chance to become a critical voice in their company’s success. We hope our research will strengthen their voice. « back