George Colony did a great job at the 2011 Forrester Marketing Forum describing what CEO’s want from their CMO. I was really encouraged by his presentation, because it’s what I want too.
George’s keynote presentation was titled, “5 Counterintuitive Things CEOs Want From CMOsâ€
1. Be a champion for innovation
Don’t allow the innovation process to be linear and closed. Build innovation networks that empowers employees.
2. Mediate the cultural conversation
Definition of culture – what people do when no one is looking. CEO’s are looking for CMOs to create stories and demonstrate the transformational power of innovation.
3. Translate and illuminate technology
Forrester says the web is dying and it will be replaced by purpose-built apps. Customers are reporting that the app experience is far better than the web experience and companies are responding by investing more resources into app development.
4. Prove that marketing is worth the investment
CMOs have it hard here and there are no easy answers. Unfortunately there are few (if any) standard measurements that can be applied. CMOs must set goals and measure outcomes.
5. Take me out for a beer talk
CEO’s look for their CMO to provide brutal, honest truth. This requires the CMO to have the courage to “speak truth to powerâ€.
If the future of Marketing looks like this, innovative Marketers have reason to be optimistic.