How a CMO Can Build a Modern Marketing Organization

Like every other word or phrase in marketing lexicon, the term "modern marketing" has a myriad of definitions across the globe. A North American marketer may have a different answer than one say in Japan or the UK. But in many ways it is irrelevant for whether you call it 21st century marketing, next-gen marketing, marketing in the digital age or simply modern marketing — it’s time to transform your marketing organization to use data, technology and content to deliver more meaningful customer experiences at every touch point along the decision and usage journeys.

Part of the above is culled directly from a new report from The CMO Club and Oracle Marketing Cloud entitled, appropriately enough: The CMO Solution Guide – Building A Modern Marketing Organization. Authored by John Ellett, CEO, nFusion, the guide features interviews from CMOs and marketing leaders of some of the biggest brands in the world and identifies four key themes that, as Daniel Newman writes in Forbes, provide "a different block for building a successful (modern) marketing organization."

1. Acumen. There are new skills the team must incorporate to become effective modern marketers. The research uncovers ten capabilities that CMOs rely on and pay a lot of attention as a means to modernize their organization. They include Customer Insights, Digital Marketing and Social Media.

2. Alignment. As customers engage with brands across an increasing number of touch points — each managed by separate departments — aligning the organization from top to bottom and across all functions has become more essential than ever. We identify five questions CMOs need to ask to build more collaborative relationships within their company including the most obvious one, "Are we aligned on expectations?"

3. Agility. The pace of change is faster than the typical annual planning cycle of most corporations. In many ways to be agile is to be modern. Technology today demands it. As Susan Lintonsmith, CMO of Quiznos puts it bluntly, "You have to be able to move very, very quickly, use the latest information and go. You can’t be slow because your competitors are moving too fast."

4. Accountability. At the end of the day, CMOs and every member of their teams must contribute to the success of their companies. It sounds obvious and simplistic. But as Kathy Button-Bell, CMO of Emerson says, things are changing. "“The transparency of the world is unfolding inside companies as much as outside. It’s pretty clear who
is carrying the meat up the hill. I don’t think it used to be that obvious.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg for sure. Download the The CMO Solution Guide – Building A Modern Marketing Organization and learn from marketing leaders about the changes they have been making to build more effective marketing teams.