All marketers need to become technologists, suggests Skillsoft Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, who identifies three skills required across C-level marketing positions.
Boockoff-Bajdek suggests that “the most effective CMOs have skills that seem contradictory at first. They must be both analytical and creative. They must be both strategic and tactical. Most of all, CMOs must have an insatiable appetite for information and insight. Happily, there are tech skills that can support all of the above.
The first is Business intelligence is a broad category that encompasses overall financials, customer insights, and marketing data. A deep understanding of customer needs and how to optimize the customer experience is table stakes. Quality data and effective data analytics are key to this effort. Data enables us to develop both high-level and targeted strategies. CMOs must be equipped to deal with tremendous volumes of data, including demographics, psychographics, behavior, and usage and put it to use in ways that benefit both the business and customers.
The second are ‘customer enabling technologies’ that drive customer success management — from project management apps to CRM platforms to marketing automation — are critical. CMOs are expected to be a lens into the customer and are being asked to take on more strategic roles. The entire C-suite, as well as Boards of Directors, expect CMOs to bring insights to the table and influence everything from rebranding to product development.. This requires strategic investments in martech as well as business intelligence.. CMOs need to select the right solutions in this ever-growing category, gain buy-in from the entire marketing team, and lead by example.
Finally, digital marketing was already central to many organizations and became even more so during the pandemic. Today, it’s estimated that 72% of overall marketing spend is on digital. Customers live their lives online and expect brand experiences to be accessible, responsive, and increasingly individualized. They also expect to connect with brands instantly and via their preferred channels. Understanding how to leverage both the IT backend and the creative fascia of websites, social, and email is imperative — especially with so many options to choose from.”
However, suggests Boockoff-Bajdek, “digital marketing is also something that keeps CMOs up at night, as the overwhelming shift to online channels during and after the pandemic has created a sense of digital fatigue across the industry. As a result, we may very well see a resurgence of offline tactics to offset this in the very near future, making it imperative for marketing leaders stay well-informed of these more traditional approaches.”
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