Marketing, according to the marketers ANA has surveyed, is more important today than ever. Why then doesn’t marketing get more respect?
It’s our outlook. Marketers according to ANA’s Marketing Organization study are more focused on tactical issues like branding guidelines, counseling divisions and best practice sharing than the issues on the CEO’s mind – Top line growth, speed and adaptability to change, customer loyalty and retention.
Why the disconnect? Lack of communications. CEOs and CMOs are not on the same page. Sounds so simple and basic. Know what your boss needs you to do. But ANA finds that may CMOs do not have a contract, a written agreement with their CEO that clearly outlines both the scope of their duties as well as clear metrics to determine how they will be measured. No wonder CMO tenure is 24 months or less.
Where do you start?
I would suggest you determine what role you and your marketing department are fulfilling within your company. The ANA/Booz Allen marketing organization profiler can help you do that – log on to www.marketingprofiler.com – this assessment tool will help you figure out what role you are playing within your company so you can determine, is this the role you were hired for? It will also help you figure out either how to better at the role you are currently playing or how to move to another role should you not be fulfilling the role you think you should.
Second, outline the metrics by which you wish to be measured. Share them with your boss, get her agreement, putting you two squarely on the same page.
Third, share this conversation with your team. If they know what you’re on the hook for, then they can help you deliver. Otherwise they will be guessing at what needs to be done, or making unilateral decisions on their own. Either of these scenarios leads to faulty execution and ultimately failure – a recipe for short CMO tenure.
Finally – execute, execute, execute. As Larry Bossidy said in his book Execution – execution is not just a tactic, it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company’s strategy, goals and culture. Keep your goals simple and work towards them every day.
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