Evolving CMO Skillsets
Thinking and behaving differently to the standard CMO, switching gears in today’s hyper-demand world with all dexterity, and gathering far-ranging data is not precisely a walk in the park! Practices of an agile CMO? Broad and critical…
Analytical, Yet Creative
The insight driven CMO needs both skills to understand the customer and optimize UX. Marrying data with creativity requires tapping into a more empathetic approach, entails active listening and a knack for spotting pain points. You stand for customer voice in more ways than one. Leverage data creatively and send the right message to the right customer. Just remember to channel your creativity with discipline.
Great Story Tellers
How do CMOs tell a good story? By connecting with customers on an
emotional level, turning data into personalized experiences. It’s all about knowing your audience and avoiding information bombardment. Customers won’t interact if there’s no personal interest involved. Show them where to look but let them decide what to see.
Human to Human
You can’t fake it and you shouldn’t try to, either. CMOs are buyers
themselves. Who would argue that the future of marketing is business to human? AI, bots, Machine Learning, all good; but can they beat human interaction? Intuition? Or automate relationships?
Body Language
It matters… More often than not, people will judge a book by its cover. It
takes less than 7 seconds to make an impression, experts say. To trust or not to trust? Labelling someone mentally is something customers do instinctively. They will pick up on your attitude immediately. So, learn to adjust it, make eye contact, smile, be approachable and build that verbal/non-verbal alignment. Face-to-face is a powerful communication medium.
Taxi For UBER
Customers are not loyal, most CMOs complain… Well, who can blame them?
Wouldn’t you take someone up, on an alternative bound to make your life easier? Your job as a CMO is to know. Find out what customers want. Quality? Price? Convenience? All on a silver platter, topped with some crisp Reliability zest and a pinch of Options? Navigate the arena, put yourself in their place, meet with them or send personable employees.
Remember, they have the answers to all your questions.
Building a Startup? Let’s hire a CMO.
Wait… do you even need one? A well-rounded marketing officer who will sell your product…? Honestly, you just might find handy all the media attention you can get. And who can craft the story to tell? Your CMO. Is it Leads you’re looking for? Branding? Relations? An “audience first” approach”? To convert all that into revenue, trust a professional to do the job properly.
You want to see your startup grow, right? Success lies hugely on customer support, perhaps that’s why CMOs are the first to thank or to blame… Hire someone who:
- Knows your needs
- Sees and creates
- Connects the dots
- Has the ability to discern
- Can still produce results in 5 or 10 years
- Is able to account for ROI
- Is an intuitive communicator
Great ideas excite people and marketing is about convincing them that the idea frankly is great. Customers won’t buy something they don’t understand and let’s face it, the Internet has drastically changed the role of the seller. People like to do their research, compare, sleep on it and then make a choice because buying anything requires effort.
There’s something called “entrepreneurial myopia”. Passion to sell blinds startup CMOs to what it actually takes to get someone buy something. Don’t obsess, plan and have patience.
Customers will lose faith in you and so will team members. And you’ll lose sleep over it because you’re on the inside looking out. Step back. Marketers are hungry for success, but success is never built on a single metric.
Besides, if you don’t know what true success looks like, how will you convince your customers that your marketing strategy is sealed for success?
