5 Tips from Microsoft's CMO

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

On Thursday Mich Matthews, CMO of Microsoft, spoke at the AAAA media conference and then was questioned by our own ANA CEO, Bob Liodice.  It was fascinating to hear Mich admit that even Microsoft, admittedly a prime catylst for the digital revolution we marketers are in, was struggling with media innovation, trying to find appropriate marketing talent, developing a marketing process and dealing with innovation and consumer control. And oh yes, how to make her CFO comfortable that the marketing spending is driving business results.

Some of Mich's top points:

• Technology requires that we innovate or die.
• We constantly have to be part of the revolution by testing, investing and experimenting.   
• As far as marketing talent -- at Microsoft, the marketers have to be able to speak the language of engineers and have the "bandwidth" to deal with all of the emerging media.
• Caution to marketers who are using social networks and the like, not to use them to "market" but rather to engage the communites and enter into a dialogue with them about your products or services.
• She also noted that often the "small guys" are redefining industries so marketers have to pay attention to them.

Good learning for all of us from a very smart marketer.

Technorati tags: microsoft marketing

Comments

[IanH]

I'd agree with Rob's comment. Most marketers don't get social networks. However there are those that do. One of the best collections of thought leadership I've seen from the leading brands in the world (B2B brands) can be found at http://www.b2bmarketingpodcast.com

Not all the interviews cover social networks but many of them do.

[Rob Fields]

The point about social networks is key. Marketers cannot mistake social media for just another channel. Doing so misses the point: In this context, it's much more about engaging in dialogue than quickly moving a "prospect" down the sales funnel. However, this is an ingrained reflex--the focus on the sale--and will be hard to change in the near term, given short CMO tenures and quarterly earnings pressure.