Harvard Business Review: The Rebirth of the CMO

The “M” in CMO is much more than just marketing now. Factor in understanding data technology, analytics, and customer experiences, too. The role itself is changing rapidly and becoming much more critical to lead the digital transformation of a company and how it will win in the new digital economy.

The recent Harvard Business Review article “The Rebirth of the CMO” nails it with a perspective on this trend.

“(Digital disruption) has elevated – and complicated – the role of CMO,” writes the authors from McKinsey and Russell Reynolds Associates’ Consumer and Financial Services Practices. “Delivering above-market growth increasingly hinges on differentiating the customer experience and building tighter customer relationships. That in turn relies on not only having excellent marketing capabilities, but also connecting marketing with the entire organization. That isn’t easy, but the payoff is worth it: Our most recent research shows that companies with excellent marketing capabilities outperform the market with 2-3X greater revenue growth.”

But what does it take to get this done?  The authors list three key activities for today’s CMO:

1. “Discover data-driven insights that drive growth”
2. “Design strategies and processes in a multichannel world”
3. “Become the organizational glue to deliver change”

At ActionIQ, we couldn’t agree more. Have a read of our blog post on the same topic!