What Makes a CMO a Catalyst for Inspiration?
To be a great B2B chief marketing officer (CMO) you have to be…well, a lot of things: Intuitive, emphatic, great work-ethic, technically sound, designed-focused, an astute businessperson, a motivator, a creator, a listener, adventurous, and a catalog of other nouns and adjectives that you would see on a LinkedIn profile—let alone on someone’s dating profile—represents the genetic makeup of what a contemporary chief marketing officer should be.
However, walking the walk and talking the talk are two very different things. In today’s cutthroat, get out of my way, arrogantly-driven business environment—your skills (both tangible and intangible) are easily identifiable.
With that said, there is probably no greater time to be a B2B chief marketing officer than today. Never before has data been more attainable for quantifiable decision-making and turnaround time faster for lead-to-deal conversion.
2016 also happens to be the hardest year to be a B2B chief marketing officer.
The Digital Age has coerced marketers to have a much broader skill-set than any previous generation.
Having the ability to engage with consumers or prospects indirectly via social media and email—and to do so in a tasteful, non-narcissistic and empathetic manner—takes an individual with a comprehensive understanding of their target market, as well as how to personalize their messaging to cohesively fit into the needs and demands of their audience.
And although CMOs have more access to information on consumer pain points and prerequisites, it doesn’t necessarily make their job easier, because competitors are blessed with the same advantages as well.
The B2B CMOs of contemporary times have to be more organized, more creative and instill more motivation and leadership into their employees’ and resellers’ minds every day in order to be successful.
And in today’s me-me culture, this is no easy feat.
Here are 5 traits every B2B chief marketing officer should have in order to flourish in the years to follow:
1.) A Jack of All Trades
Multi-channel experience is a fundamental requirement for all CMOs. Having the mindset to think of multiple playing fields gives a CMO more ammunition to deploy effective marketing strategies, personalized to each/all platforms. Sure, specializing in a particular medium is a crucial advantage—but if you yearn to blossom into a successful B2B CMO—your expertise must broaden on a profound basis. After all, you’re the influencer, motivator and creative strategist to your entire department.
2.) Life-Long Learners
For better or worse, the world is always evolving. Whether it’s technological advancement, socioeconomic progression, topography, genetics, and of course, the business culture, things change.
Having a curious predisposition that is not solely money-oriented, but rather, industry-focused is something that produces a profound impact on your employees’ minds.
Don’t settle for knowing everything, instead, anticipate the unexpected—and share it with your personnel.
3.) An Acute Understanding of Customer’s Needs
A lifecycle marketer is an individual that knows exactly what to do at each stage of the lead-to-conversion process. This trait is immensely beneficial, as CMOs with a comprehensive background in lifecycle marketing know what strategy to deploy when to deploy it, and for whom to deploy it. This quality is based on the acknowledgment of addressing a customer’s needs over time.
4.) Unpretentious Persona
Nothing hurts a CMO’s value proposition worse than non-humble insolence. It’s not only a turn off for people that work with you, but establishes corporate segregation in the workplace. A CMO is a huge responsibility. You—in many regards—are the face of the organization. You engage with the press, speak at conferences and are both internally and externally actively involved in all facets of communication. But you’re not merely the “talking head” of your organization, you’re the facilitator of the brand, architect of creativity and catalyst of transparency.
5.) Monetarily Competent
As you’re well aware, a business that lacks revenue is a business that risks survival. Sure, this is not to downplay the importance of building a “community”, injecting creativity or establishing an equal hierarchy with your team—but if you’re doing so without generating revenue—it’s pointless. As the CMO, it is your duty to recognize inefficiency in a prompt, and constructive manner. Each business move you make should be well calculated and backed with suggestions, questions, documentation and, of course, inspiration.
The PRM Solution to Harness B2B Motivation and Management
Founded in 1984, CMR brings years of industry experience and knowledge to its customers. Over the years, we’ve identified the obstacles in the way of managing indirect channels and have focused on developing solutions that overcome them.
Our cost-effective software streamlines channel activities, reduces conflict, and enables your channel partners to effectively market and sell your products.
Most importantly, our solutions create real-time performance reports that make it easy to determine the return on your channel investments.
We’re confident that our automated services will significantly reduce the amount of resources spent on tedious administrative processes that have traditionally supported channel activities. Here’s a snapshot of some of the software applications that we offer:
- Channel POS
- Channel Inventory
- Deal Registration
- Co-op/MDF Management
- Partner Profile
- Rebate/Spiff Management
- Ship and Debit
- And much, much more
We’ll send you a FREE whitepaper as a thank you.