The Wealthy Business - by EnergizeGrowth

Why CMOs Also Have To Be Thought Leaders

A handful of great CMOs in my community have lost their jobs. Why did it take almost a month for them to re-position themselves and generate interest from prospective employers? I think it’s because they have ignored the critical need to remain thought leaders in their own right, regardless of their employment status.

CMOs are experts at promoting their companies' brands--but not always their own. Studies have shown that fewer than 20% of Fortune 250 CMOs are on Twitter. Can you imagine launching an online strategy for your company without actively using any of the social technologies? It’s like discovering your nutritionist secretly lives on candy bars and fast food.

Five Primal Lessons in Marketing and Publishing from Guy Kawasaki’s APE

An overview of "APE," the new bible of self publishing, from Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch.

Last year, Guy Kawasaki was preparing to speak at an annual conference. He had just published his ninth book, and contacted Penguin Publishing to fulfill 500 digital orders of Enchantment. The publisher, to his dismay, said that they could not fulfill the order. He was slightly upset.

As disgruntled anchorman Howard Beale said in the film Network, many authors are mad as hell, and they are not going to take it anymore.

B2B Marketing Strategies From "The Challenger Sale"

I just attended a seminar to showcase of The Challenger Sale, a recently released bestseller that reveals some credible studies on changing buyer and seller relationships. Co-author Matt Dixon, a Director of Research with CEB (formerly Corporate Executive Board), outlined some important trends in B2B sales and marketing. If you are in the throes of channel and global field sales planning for 2013, you need to recognize these:

1. Consensus decision making is becoming de rigeur. Today's corporate decision makers are very risk averse. Just when salespeople think they have a strong inside supporter, the buyer will ask them to gain buy-in from a variety of evaluators from other departments. As Dixon stated, "for salespeople, it is now a game of herding cats."

The First Step to Becoming a Modern Marketing Leader

I just returned from an action-packed week at Eloqua Experience 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

Eloqua's much-anticipated keynote speaker was Jeffrey Hayzlett, author of the new bestseller, Running the Gauntlet. Eloqua's theme of becoming a modern marketer permeated the high-energy sessions, and Jeff's was no exception.

• Why it's important to cause tension in your organization
• The value of keeping good company
• Where to find inspiration

Marketing Planning in an Interdependent World

Thank you, Tiffany Shlain. Your award-winning film, Connected, was an unexpected summer treat. It heightened my awareness of the need for marketing leaders to recognize their growing interdependency on others.

As I have mentioned in recent Fast Company posts, CMOs no longer "own" every aspect of marketing. They cannot operate in an isolated fashion. They must establish stakeholder relationships that support, activate, and measure interactions and brand experiences. Every initiative must either create communities, generate good leads, drive revenues, edify the brand, or perpetuate positive customer experiences.

Now, let's talk about this film for a moment, and how it relates to how CMOs lead. Connected made its global debut in 2011. Throughout her documentary, Shlain weaves her own personal, life-changing moments with examples of political and social leaders whose policies--often fueled by short-term thinking--caused long term and often irreparable damage.

337 Ways to Deepen B2B Customer Relationships

Have you packed your bags with your favorite summer reading? There is still time to add one more (e) book--  Power Questions by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas.

In today's 140 character world, it is easy to stop listening and revert to shouting, explaining, and pontificating. Yet, as the authors remind us, "The energy of power questions is your mightiest ally in drawing out deeply held feelings...which can transform your relationships." They give us the keys to the Socratic question kingdom in bite-sized, easily digestible portions.

Let's be honest -- during the summer, the last thing you want to be caught reading is some heady book like Nassem Taleb's The Black Swan, or Dixon/Adamson's The Challenger Sale. These tomes are replete with charts, graphs, pontifications, and theories.

Power Questions is different. Each 3-5 page chapter provides a succinct, engaging story and one question to help you address myriad daily challenges in work and life. As a bonus, the Appendix includes another 293 "power questions." They include situations such as when...

• Your team is stuck in status quo, and has run out of fresh ideas
• Your sales cycle drags on forever
• You're stuck in a contentious argument or dead-end meeting
• You really don't know what makes your colleague or customer tick
• You feel unprepared for an upcoming meeting
• Your colleague cannot get to the point
• You cannot get your Board or executive team to focus on what really matters

I have known Andrew for several years, and am a big fan of his work. What sets him apart is his never-ending focus on practical, field-tested solutions and ideas. He has spent decades working with the likes of Spencer Stuart, Bain, and Xerox. I know you will find this quick read worthy of a space in your beach tote.

Order your copy here.

Copyright 2012, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Other related posts:

Turn up the Heat in Your Marketing Plan, Miami Style

The Power of Stillness

The Secret Life of Customer Advisory Boards (part 1)

 

Marketing Strategist Endorsement – Find New Customers

I just heard from Jeff Ogden, Founder of the highly acclaimed Fearless Competitor blog, that I have been awarded the April “Fan of the Month” designation.

EnergizeGrowth NOW for Busy People

My book was just featured by GetAbstract, the world’s largest library of business book summaries.

If you are a busy person who seldom makes time to savor books, this is the ideal solution. Check out the summary here.

 

Book Review: Optimize your Social Media ROI -- Return on Impact

My friend David Nour has just released his fourth book, Return on Impact: Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships (ASAE, 2012), and not a moment too soon. In this resource-rich book, David elevates social from "doing"--networking, media, and collaboration--to "becoming" a more socially enabled organization through social market leadership. 

How HR Can Transform into Effective Marketers

Mitch Hershkowitz never thought he would see the day when HR and marketing teamed up to drive higher profits. But that day came in 2009. Dimension Data, where he is National Practice Manager, Consulting Services, was under pressure to standardize on a single internal instant messaging platform to eliminate employee silos--a daunting task for a global company with over 14,000 employees. Marketing's clever "Rule the Waters" boogie boarding and beach-themed internal campaign for the new system triggered a tsunami of support.