“CMOs have plenty of strategic challenges on their plates and will continue to for the foreseeable future. That is why those who are able to develop and articulate a clear strategy, build teams in a way that maximizes efficiency will have a greater opportunity to achieve success and survive the uncertainties that a pandemic economy can bring,” says Bonnie Crater, Chief Executive Officer, Full Circle Insights, in an exclusive interview with TalkCMO.
TCMO Bureau: With the remote working system still in place, what strategies could CMOs apply to balance the hybrid work culture?
Bonnie Crater: CMOs need to be able to pivot and adapt using agile methods (like short standup meetings and sprints) that allow them to manage change, improve productivity and successfully collaborate in the new hybrid work environment. In addition to being agile, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) need to practice transparency in order to make sure their teams are organized in a way that will make it easy for them to do their work. This means eliminating any sense of ambiguity and clearly identify each team member’s roles and responsibilities. This way, employees understand the new expectations and can reassess their work style to have a greater chance at meeting those expectations. Also, try to find a way to have fun in remote meetings. Take a few minutes for banter or personal stories as it helps for everyone to connect more.
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TCMO Bureau: What initiatives should CMOs take to keep a well-balanced C suite?
Bonnie Crater: In order to keep a well-balanced C-suite, CMOs need to have open collaboration with other C suite members, specifically the CIO. When CMOs and CIOs get together to make decisions about martech and cloud solutions, they can probably improve data and application integration. It would result in a better customer experience. Data integration makes it possible for the company to create highly personalized, relevant experiences for customers who are engaging with the organization on digital channels. The CMO’s understanding of customer journey along with the CIO’s insight into the enterprise IT infrastructure is both essential for optimizing digital interactions. As an added benefit, good marketing data makes reporting marketing’s impact at the executive staff meeting easier. Marketing becomes more relatable and meaningful to the CEO, CFO, and Head of Sales.
TCMO Bureau: In this fast-paced digitized era, which technology (ies) is a safe bet, according to you?
Bonnie Crater: The safest bet when it comes to thriving in a fast-paced digitized era is to use campaign attribution models with funnel metrics. Attribution models provide an overview on how to use your marketing spending more effectively and in a way that will drive more ROI. While marketing departments have a robust amount of data, they often lack the full picture of how leads progress through the marketing and sales funnels. Technology solutions allows the opportunity to consolidate siloed data in the CRM. It creates a single source of truth which is critical in marketing’s ever changing tech-centered industry.
TCMO Bureau: Marketing strategies have also anchored a digital system; which old strategies would you recommend CMOs to let go?
Bonnie Crater: It is easy to say in a pandemic that CMOs should give up physical events for digital tactics. Still, the marketing strategy – based on business goals, ideal customer profile, and key strategies — should stand regardless of channel, digital or not. These elements are very specific to every company. Sometimes old strategies find a new life as a company or the market evolves.
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TCMO Bureau: Talking about employee and consumer behavior, what would you attribute to good CMO behavior?
Bonnie Crater: Good CMO behavior includes a clear vision for supporting business goals and the ability to communicate it. I would add seamless organization and collaboration among team members to the list. They should also have the ability to tell the marketing story across the entire company, externally as well as to all key audiences. With persistent economic uncertainty, budgets in flux, digital transformation initiatives, and evolving customer profiles to consider, CMOs have plenty of strategic challenges on their plates — and will continue to for the foreseeable future. That is why those who are able to develop and articulate a clear strategy, build teams in a way that maximizes efficiency and cooperation, and confidently communicate their team’s contributions to other departments across the organization will have a greater opportunity to achieve success, maintain job security and survive the uncertainties a pandemic economy can bring.
Prior to joining Full Circle Insights, Bonnie Crater was a five-time vice president of marketing and executive at many software companies in Silicon Valley. Bonnie held vice president and senior vice president roles at Genesys, Netscape, Network Computer Inc., salesforce.com, Stratify, Realization, and VoiceObjects (now Voxeo). A ten-year veteran of Oracle Corporation and its various subsidiaries, Bonnie was vice president, Compaq Products Division and vice president, Workgroup Products Division.
