While it’s nothing new that CMOs today face a wider array of challenges than ever before, there are some concerns that stand out more than others. Below, I discuss three that can apply to both B2B and B2C businesses.
- Creating sustainable and engaging customer relationships and improving the customer experience
- Taking advantage of digital trends in social media and mobile
- Demonstrating marketing’s ROI
So, what do we know about what customers want out of this relationship?
Now, how do we find a middle ground that meets both a CMO’s and a customer’s needs?
It starts with creating and sustaining engaging customer relationships. Content is the only proven way to build relationships with people over time. Most importantly, content should always add value to the reader! Rather than just ‘tooting the horn’ of the advertiser, content should address pain points that customers are facing.
In addition to engaging customers through the “brand as publisher” approach through content, companies should also be amplifying that content across the web, starting with organic social media. Also, don’t discount the power of earned media and how it can be influential for your brand as well!
Now, how can you take advantage of digital technology trends? First things first, AVOID RAM! That’s ‘Random Acts of Marketing’ folks. Don’t go and commit budget to that “shiny new tool” a sales rep presented to you and your marketing team without some thought behind it first. Have a cohesive marketing strategy and if you decide to test something new and cool, make sure you can compare it across the existing activities you are doing. If you want to try a variety of new things, short tests and comparing the results that come, and optimizing to what works best from a data perspective is the way to go. A commitment to decisions based on data is what CMOs need to rely on.
ROI – how can CMOs measure success more effectively? Firstly, review and socialize a clear and concise strategy on how success will be measured across your organization. CMOs need a metrics philosophy that they can defend and stand behind. Once the process is defined, you can see how it applies across different types of media outlets. You should also take into account how different types of media help to achieve various intended campaign goals. For example:
- Content Strategy = Influence
- Display Advertising = Awareness
- Programmatic = Awareness Scale + Frequency
- Video Advertising = Engagement
- Content Syndication = Leads
It may seem overwhelming from a CMO’s perspective to know the in’s and out’s of the digital marketing landscape today, especially considering the crazy acronyms for technology and techniques that are often times interchangeable: DSP, DMP, retargeting/remarketing, cross-device, 3rd party data, 1st party data, proprietary, MQL/HQL/SQL…the list goes on!
To navigate this new territory, a CMO needs to cultivate relationships with partners who can take the vast array of technology, data points, channels, and tactics available in the market and turn them into a meaningful customer experience.
In summary, to address customer needs,
- Your brand needs to be representing a similar brand experience across all mediums (content, mobile, desktop, social, traditional media etc)
- Personalization! Are there ways that you can customize your customer experience so it is meaningful and relevant to them. The answer is always yes.
While the above points only scratch the surface of all the creative and unique ways you can target customers digitally, it’s what you do with this information within your organization to make technology and data work for you.
The only constant is change! Embrace it!
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
Source(s): The Cure to CMOs’ Top 3 Concerns, The CMO Technology Conundrum
Stefanie Feilinger
Just Media, Inc.
