The Changing Role of Marketing: What All Leaders Need To Know

As the buzz and many compelling conversations from the last month’s ADWKNYC and the recent ADWKDC conferences gradually fades into the background for the next series of headlines and soundbytes, it reminded me about the recent opportunity I had a several months ago to curate, produce, moderate and bring together several of the industry’s foremost communications thought leaders and creative brand marketers for a panel titled The Changing Role of Marketing: What All Leaders Need To Know. Watch here, https://vimeo.com/344361525. Hosted by the Washington Network Group and co-sponsored by the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF-DC) many of the same themes from the role of influencer marketing to content personalization to authentic customer relationships continues to be on the lips of thought leaders in the Marketing and Communications sectors.           

As reaffirmed by many in the sold-out DC area audience that was comprised of communications and marketing executives from Fortune 500 companies, digital start-ups, PR firms, advertising agencies, non-profits, academia, trade associations, professional societies and government agencies – the evening over delivered not only tangible technical information, topical marketing “case study-like stories” with anecdotal examples but also of even greater relevance and interest – an unvarnished, fresh dialogue consisting of the seismic shifts of disruption in Marketing and Communications. No doubt the future of the industry is undergoing profound and permanent secular shifts. As I encourage all to watch and listen to the event video produced by CoCreate Studios, I would also like to express deep gratitude and the highest accolades to the amazing panel (in alphabetical order) of: Lynn Godfrey, Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Communications Officer, Girl Scouts USA; Kelly Harman, Senior Vice President Marketing, Yorktel; Mark Kelly, former Vice President, Marketing & Communications, Association of Governing Boards & Colleges and Principal, Mark Kelly Communications; Scot Safon, Head of Marketing, Motor Trend Group and independent marketing consultant.

Top 10 Highlights

1.    Data can lead marketers well beyond typical KPIs of lead generation, retention and brand awareness to critical information of shifting customer perceptions and to inform storytelling. Effective communications executives must strike a balance and connect the data with a brand’s emotional connections with audiences.

2.    While consumers (especially millennials) increasingly do not differentiate between paid, earned and owned content, institutionalized silos around these areas within many organizations and a legacy approach to communications still exist.

3.    Brands must strive to move away from product function, specs and feature marketing and embrace the power of storytelling and establish emotional connections with their customers.

4.    The proliferation of marketing channels does not obviate the need to further understand a brand’s customers and in fact makes it ever more important as a conduit into consumer behavior patterns and trends.

5.    Many organizations are so entrenched in a legacy mindset and preserving the status quo that without strong executive leadership real transformational change is difficult to achieve.

6.    The role and purpose of Marketing within an organization can widely vary from being very function oriented and tactical to hopefully being empowered to have a broader impact on building the business and strategy setting. Depending on the company’s life stage, corporate culture, structural organization and the leadership capabilities of the CEO (or the lack thereof) will it be determined if a Marketing team is able to transform mindset and serve a more muscular, leader driven and multidimensional role.

7.    Marketing will be or should be at the center of high performance multi-disciplinary teams that provides cross-silo leadership.

8.    The talent recruiting and training process should focus on not the current state of an organization but where it wants to go.

9.    Effective communications must be at the center when marketers are leading transformational changes in their organizations. Managing internal and external expectations with authentic messaging is vital.

10. As referenced by the moderator on the panel it was mentioned in CMO Today by Anthony Stephan from Deloitte referring to creating unique customer experiences that it’s a much higher calling –

“Human experience starts with the premise that an individual’s beliefs, values, feelings and ambitions are even more important because they form the foundation for who they are and what they want from the organizations with which they choose to engage”

While not exactly Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it reminds all good marketing and communications leaders that it’s much more than the touch on a digital device – but a human touch.

Bob Mitchell a strategy and communications consultant at the intersection of content, platforms and partnerships with a focus on driving B2B growth strategies for organizations seeking transformational leadership; https://vimeo.com/344361525