Welcome back from the Summit, readers. This Saturday, we’ll cover the skills it takes to be considered a super-CMO, will extol the virtues of awakening dormant customers, will explain why CMOs are feeling the pressure when it comes to customer engagement and will offer a shout out to some friends who closed a really big deal this week. And now, let’s get to the news!
Super CMOs: The skills it takes to be one today
While it would be great if you could identify a super-CMO by a secret handshake or a really cool cape, the reality is that you have to look a little more carefully to separate the good CMOs from the ones who are truly super. Back in 2004, Harvard biz school professors Gail J. McGovern and John Quelch described the super-CMO as one who’s “able to attract and retain top marketing talent, excellent at both left-brain and right brain marketing, a change agent with strong convictions, and well-respected and trusted by the CEO and peers,” a definition that still holds true today.
But as technology and digital have grown, the scope of the CMO’s role has expanded—and the definition of a super-CMO has as well. According to Bob Van Rossum in Business2Community, there are several new criteria that define today’s super-CMO, including having the ability to serve as the voice of the customer and drive and effective integrated strategy across all channels. Read the rest of Van Rossum’s suggested super-CMO skills here.
Waking up dormant customers
If your business is like many, you have a pretty good idea of your average customer acquisition cost—and you’re probably actively trying to reduce it. But according to Patricia Robles at eConsultancy, by focusing on customer retention activities—including re-engaging previous customers who have gone quiet—you’re more likely to reap big rewards.
Robles recounts Macy’s recent re-engagement success. The retailer used email to reach out to segmented groups of previous shoppers who had gone dormant, attempting to rouse them out of hibernation and overall, it accomplished its goals. Find out the actual open rate and CTR and check out other tips from Macy’s re-engagement campaign here.
CMOs: Prove value in customer engagement or else
Nearly 75% of CMOs believe that their very livelihood is at stake if their team’s customer engagement offerings fail to captivate and delight their intended audiences, and yet only 10% feel any level of confidence that they can accurately measure customer engagement against overall business goals. That’s just one of the findings from CMO Council’s The State of Engagement study, as reported in Chief Marketer. The report also highlights that when CMOs are able to connect customer engagement back to business impact, they can only do it manually, and only for a handful of particular channels.
Clearly, CMOs feel that effective customer engagement plays a key role in their job security—and they’d welcome assistance helping prove the value of their customer engagement efforts to the bottom line. Check out Chief Marketer’s overview of the report here.
Congratulations Bizible and Marketo!
Earlier this week at the Marketo Summit, Marketo announced that that it had acquired Bizible. As a Marketo Platinum Partner and a Bizible partner for years, we’re quite familiar with both of these businesses and know that Marketo’s clients will benefit greatly from the insights Bizible’s platform brings to the table. Congratulations to both teams on what is surely a win-win for marketers!
