October 15th, 2012

I was pleasently surprised last month when ExecRank put me on their top 50 CMO’s list. ExecRank screened and evaluated over 15,000 Marketing Executives this year to rank only the top 500. 2012 has seen a heavy focus on social media marketing and strategic partnerships as well as innovative engagement strategies that break through the clutter and show a positive return on investment. This year also saw many marketing executives releasing their own book with top tier book publishers, this, and other forms of thought leadership factored heavily into these rankings as well.

Link to the rankings/report: 

http://execrank.com/2012/10/2012-top-marketing-executives/

Marketing Executives were ranked according to our patent-pending proprietary  ranking algorithm, in addition to the insights and feedback from evaluation committees featuring some of the world’s most renowned business leaders. Like all of our position specific ranking algorithms, the marketing executives algorithm serves as an objective standard for executive performance and is designed to produce results that act as leading indicators for future executive and company performance.

The ExecRank algorithm calculates points for 24 key categories for each marketing executive, including:

- Experience in the role
- Business results during tenure
- Published thought leadership (books, speeches, articles, media mentions)
- Technology adoption (LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs)
- Education
- Industry/professional reputation
- Peer recommendations and nominations

An extract of the top 50 CMOs are listed here:

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Posted By Vince Ferraro

July 11th, 2010

The CMO Council State of Marketing Report, featuring the 2010 Marketing Outlook Audit, is the largest independent assessment of senior marketing executives today. This annual global benchmarking initiative undertaken by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, gains insights into how senior marketing decision makers are managing marketing mix modeling, budget allocations and media mix spend, and investments into infrastructure, technology platforms and enhancements to internal competencies. Given the economic challenges and market pressures worldwide, this year’s review of ‘08 performance and ‘09 challenges and intentions is far deeper and wider than before. The results of this study will be extremely valuable to all participants seeking peer-level input and consensus on critical issues and priorities in the year ahead. 

If you to be up to date on what marketing thought leaders are thinking about and doing in their marketing programs, activities, and spend, this is the report to read. 

There are many excellent conclusions and observations available in this document. Some of the big picture marketing goals and strategies of 2010 according to a survey of senior marketing leaders include:

• Reallocating more money towards electronic media that is engaging and helps drive increases in customer loyalty.
• Undertake very big consumer insights and business intelligence drive as we gear up to invest in emerging markets.
• Shifting marketing dollars to direct sales engagement and sales training.
• Need to work on coordination and time management of integrated marketing campaign teams.
• Be wiser in channeling the right message into the correct channel to maximize effectiveness.
• Improve communication between marketing and non-marketing employees.

 Some additional recommendations by Deloitte and ExactTarget  include:

Improve marketing alignment across the value  chain.

In recent years, a large number of companies have improved their marketing performance by creating greater internal alignment between Sales and Marketing. Now, many are expanding this effort beyond their four walls to include their key value chain partners. For example, companies in the consumer packaged goods and consumer electronics industries are collaborating with retailers to align their marketing programs, investments, and planning. 

Harness the power of social media. 

New digital technologies and social media channels are changing the way customers think and behave. Established companies are naturally reluctant to shift their focus away from traditional marketing channels that have served them well in the past. Also, many companies don’t know how to operate effectively in this new environment, and are afraid of losing control over their marketing messages. Unfortunately, sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option for most. Conversations that have a profound impact on your product and brand are already happening in these new channels. 

Get more value from customer analytics. 

By now, nearly all major companies are likely making a conscious effort to unearth the valuable insights hidden in their customer data. In fact, according to this year’s CMO Survey, 62 percent of respondents plan on “improving customer segmentation and targeting,” making it the number one improvement strategy for 2010. Yet our experience working with companies around the world suggests that most will barely scratch the surface when it comes unleashing the full power of customer analytics.

Embrace customer service. 

The importance of good customer service will continue to increase as consumers feel more and more comfortable airing their grievances online. Consumers don’t want to go to this level. As one consumer told us in a recent focus group, “I’ll call and then email, but if I don’t get the help I’m looking for, look out! They can’t ignore me when I put it on Facebook and Twitter.” Social media levels the playing field. Progressive marketers will embrace this accountability instead of fearing it. 

Scale through automation.

63% of marketing executives are looking to automation to improve efficiency and campaign effectiveness. The two most common marketing automation solutions planned for deployment in 2010 are for email marketing (46%) and social networking (39%). As a provider of automation tools for both of these channels, we have seen how this type of automation can improve response. For example, we have witnessed automated messages triggered to email subscribers based on their online behavior generated as much as 70 times the conversion rate of non-triggered messages.

Measure what matters. 

As marketers look to improve their online marketing capabilities, they must look beyond top-line performance metrics. High-level metrics are still the most commonly used measure of online effectiveness with 63% looking at page views and registrations. Comparatively, only 38% measure online effectiveness via transactions and/or subscriptions and 22% look at deal values and/or selling cycles. 

A summary of the report is available for free here. 

The complete report is available for $199 here.

I would be interested in hearing your feedback about the conclusions and trends to see if your company is experiencing facing similar challenges and opportunities for the marketing function. 

Happy reading!

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Posted By Vince Ferraro

March 2nd, 2010

Marketing Executives Networking Group & Anderson Analytics Release Results of Third Annual Top Marketing Trends Survey

Today MENG, along with Anderson Analytics – which is run by MENG member Tom Anderson, announce the results of our 3rd Annual Top Marketing Trends Study. This is a great read as the group and the study crosses a fairly large cross section of the marketing leadership and executives in many companies and industries in the U.S. Theyare top notch people. I resonated with the findings – the trends are are for increased investment in social marketing, marketing performance management, mobile marketing, and focus on emerging markets. Favorite books  and gurus were also included that are popular among marketing executives surveyed. Overall, the marketing community is optimistic about future growth for their industries and are happy in their jobs. Marketing executives reported being happy in their jobs, which is surprising given that CMO turnover in the C-Suite is fatest of all the other functions.

Old Saybrook, CT – March 2, 2010 – The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and Anderson Analytics today issued the results of its Third Annual Survey of Top Marketing Trends. Anderson Analytics surveyed MENG’s nearly 2000 senior marketing members, focusing on the top marketing concepts, buzz words, social media strategy, geographic / demographic considerations as well as the books and thought leaders that executive marketers look to for inspiration and growth opportunity.

“The annual Top Marketing Trends survey continues to provide valuable insight and direction on where the marketing industry is headed and what’s holding marketers’ attention,” said Richard Sellers, Chairman of MENG and Founder of Demand Marketing. “For example, the high importance of marketing ROI, social media and mobile marketing became evident in this year’s survey findings.”

“While more marketers are optimistic about the future prospect of growth, marketers are still feeling the pressure of a tough economic cycle with the need to prove a return on their marketing investments,” said Tom H.C. Anderson, Managing Partner of Anderson Analytics.  “It’s also no surprise to see social media ranking high in the minds of most marketers, but also shows the group is beginning to tire of some of the social media-related buzz words, especially ‘Twitter’.”

Top Findings: 

66% of marketers are more optimistic about business opportunity in 2010; 28% view 2010 similarly to 2009 while only 6% are less optimistic about the outlook.  Compared to last year’s survey findings, marketers are:

Social media remains hot with 70% of marketers planning new social media initiatives in 2010.  Interestingly, social media, twitter and social networking ranked as the top “buzz words marketers are most tired of hearing.”

Regarding companies’ presence on social media sites, large companies are more likely to have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and MySpace; smaller companies rely more on LinkedIn.

“Marketing ROI” moved from the third most important marketing concept in last year’s survey to the number one spot in this year’s survey, followed by “Customer Retention” and Brand Loyalty.”

“Mobile Marketing” and “Social Media” officially made the top-10 concept list for the first time this year.  

Of the 53 identified marketing concepts, “Developed Markets,” “Multi-language,” “Social Consciousness,” “Offshoring” and “Long Tail” were viewed as the least important.

Overall marketing executives are more likely to rely on internal employees for their social media initiatives than any outside firms. Companies that are going outside for help with social media strategy and implementation are much more likely to look to social media consultants, and to a lesser degree interactive agencies, than to advertising agencies or public relations firms.

Not surprisingly, China was still ranked as the top geographic opportunity for growth, followed by India, Latin America and Brazil. And among the various target demographics, MENG members still feel that Boomers represent the best opportunity for customer targeting, followed by women and Hispanics. The overall importance of different demographics has not changed significantly since last year’s survey. 

Top Marketing Gurus & Books:

The main sources of marketing inspiration remained practically the same this year.  Seth Godin remains the favorite marketing / business guru three years in a row. Steve Jobs and Philip Kotler increased in popularity and now occupy second and third place, respectively. Two social media focused gurus, David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan, made the list for the first time this year.

Outliers, Good to Great, and Blue Ocean Strategy were the top three business books MENG members would recommend reading.  Advertising Age, Wall Street Journal and Fast Company were ranked as the most popular publications read by senior marketing professionals.  And by a large margin, MENG members respect Apple the most in terms of company and brand marketing.

Happiness & Dream Jobs:

Despite tough market conditions, senior marketing executives appear to be quite happy with their current job. Over 60% gave a seven or above overall rating on the job satisfaction scale. When asked about their dream job, 44% of the respondents provided answers within the field of Marketing and over 13% of the members say they currently are in their dream job.

Anderson Analytics conducted the Top Marketing Trends survey among current MENG members between January 11 and February 8, 2010. Anderson Analytics used text-mining software to code open-ended/free form text answers to questions in order to truly understand what issues were top-of-mind among the senior executives. The 533 responses yield a confidence interval of +/-3.64%.

For a complete copy of survey results, visit www.mengonline.com/visitors/newsroom.

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Posted By Vince Ferraro

February 24th, 2010

I am late with this blog post, but I wanted to take some time to think about and define essential elements and functions world class marketing organizations exhibit. I may be biased because of the previous positions I have had at HP. But I believe the most successful marketing organizations and leaders create and blend roles that drive the business growth and deliver upon their functional objectives and deliverables. While I assume I will deliver many future posts on the topic of the role of marketing and CMO, let me say the following which may obvious to many.

The more the marketing role is structured around deliverables and tactics, the less value the rest of the company (and the people who manage the budgets) will ascribe to the marketing function. In contrast, the greater the ability of marketing to influence the business – whether that be strategy, value creation, new product development, growth initiatives, etc. the more value and importance a company will derive out of their marketing organizations. In my consulting practice and network, I have met many companies “enlightened” about the value of marketing. They say they want to build a “strategic marketing” organization and invest money, hire talented people, etc. The goal, of course, is admirable. But then ask the tough questions. You find out that marketing doesn’t report to the CEO/President like HR, Finance, Operations, etc. It reports two or three levels down in the organization. Think that is a strategic investment in marketing? Ask another question and they will tell you they don’t know much about marketing – they read that is important (or some consultant or the board told them it was important) and they want to invest, but watch it at a distance. “Prove to me that marketing has strategic value and we will elevate it in the organization”, they pontificate.

The marketing professionals that take on these roles, in many cases, are doomed to failure because their organization is not really ready to engage or support the marketing function at an appropriate level. Finally, some sales-focused organizations and CEO/owner managers are not ready to be “enlightened” by a more capable and powerful marketing organization or leader. They say, “Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power”.

What I can say, after observing great and not so great marketing organizations, is I believe there are 6 key roles that most successful marketing organizations (and the people in them) play.  Executing on them greatly improves the chances that world class marketing will be delivered.

• Be the Strategic Visionary for the Business – Shape the future direction of the company and help the company and the board see what the future and success looks like. Be an externally facing PR/Industry Analyst spokesperson about this vision and strategy with the CEO and the other executives.
• Grow Revenues and Share While Effectively Managing Profitability – Be the champion of growth in the company.  Build strategic plans, portfolios, and initiatives that drive growth short term and long term revenue and market share while delivering on the bottom line profit of the company – net profit, operating profit, EBIDA, etc.
• Identify and Create New Business Opportunities – Help the company identify adjacent, new business opportunities that can be grown organically or through acquisition. Assist the company in its make, buy or build decision-making. Finally, lead the organization in the identification of potential partners or acquisition targets
• Bring the Voice of Customer and Insights to CEO and C-Level Staff – Do it in a way they can be internalized and used to create value and competitive advantage for the company. Listen to what customers are saying. Create different ways to interact and capture that feedback (i.e. social media).  Be able to aggregate the data and provide meaningful insights that are actionable.
• Create and Manage the Right Marketing Structures – Ability to successfully brand, create, introduce, manage, and sell a company’s products and services at the appropriate cost and with the right ROI. Not everything in marketing is fun and glamorous. We need to create structures that measure the investment return (ROI) of the money we spend and create structures and processes to get what we need out of the organization to deliver the functional goals. We also need be great in the functional practice of creative and innovative marketing and understand and master relevant, new marketing techniques and practices.
• Proper Marketing Role is a Blend of Activities and Roles Over the Strategic Planning Horizon - Spend too much time in strategic planning, and the company may view marketing as being in an ivory tower. Spend too much time in tactical execution mode and you might not be seen as value-added function, but one that wildly spends money on frivolous activities. It is the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma. While not easy, good marketing organizations are able to balance the two well. One other thing I would mention is that as a marketing functional leader, spending too much time in strategy or execution risks labeling you as too strategic (can’t execute) or not strategic enough. Balance and harmony on this continuum is key.

The important point, in summary, is that marketing is the only function, in the office of the CEO, which can broadly lead an organization down the path of growth and strategic insight. Because of the scope of what marketing people do, this leadership doesn’t come from other functions such as HR, Finance, or Operations.

There is a lot of literature and articles out there about the evolving role of marketing and CMO. Here are a few that I found interesting.

CMO Tenure – Slowing the Revolving Door

The Evolving Role of the CMO

Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing

Happy reading and please let me know if you have other ideas, comments, or thoughts about key marketing roles.

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Posted By Vince Ferraro