The Stuff of Marketers’ Dreams

I’m not sure it’s that misery loves company, but it might be helpful for marketers and chief marketing officers around the world to be reminded that they are not alone in the kinds of challenges they face—and that the struggle to overcome those challenges is worth their while.

In my travels as CMO of BCG—meeting with others in my position, talking to clients—here’s what I never hear: “At my company, we have more talent than we can use!” “Our digital strategy is right on track.” “We’re just swimming in budget these days—so much to spend, and it’s so clear where we need to spend it!”

OK, these statements are the stuff of marketers’ dreams, but the fact that our daily realities are so far removed from such lofty aspirations should not keep us from pushing ahead, taking chances, and finding our purpose.

What I have learned in my global work is that marketers today are dealing with six primary headaches:

1. The Talent Shortage: As marketing strategies evolve—affected by digital disruptions, data analytics, and so on—our talent needs are so much more complicated than in the Mad Men-era days of traditional advertising campaigns in print and on television. This fact of modern life means two things. First, of course, we have to bring in the best new talent—folks who are up-to-date on the latest technologies, digital strategies, and social-media approaches. Right now, these tend to be the digitally native Millennials. But we also have to find ways to take care of the people we already have—those who are loyal to their company, experienced, and enmeshed in the brand—by continually updating their skills, retraining them, and finding ways to energize them as they adapt to new marketing realities.
2. Digital Demands: We hear about it all the time—no matter the industry or sector and no matter the goal. Undergoing a digital transformation is the key to staying in the race. For marketing, a central part of this effort means becoming increasingly sharp and fine-tuned about audience. Whether you’re B2B or B2C, you have to approach the work with a digital focus, figuring out how to leverage the power of big data, enhance your ability to target, and win.
3. The Mysteries of Measuring: These days, companies invest a great deal in measurements, but in the end marketers have very few answers. It has never been easy to truly quantify the results of marketing efforts, but the digital revolution has added layers of complexity to the task. “With an unprecedented amount of data, tools, and analytics at their disposal, marketers are finding it more and more difficult to demonstrate the value that they create,” according to BCG’s article “Making Sense of the Marketing Measurement Mess.”
4. The Battle of Local Versus Global: Another issue that is top-of-mind for marketers these days is how to perfect the balancing act of expanding globally while staying true to an organization’s original, local mission. It’s important to ask the big questions. What do we stand for globally? What do we stand for at our home base? And where can we insist on overlap? Sometimes global success requires allowing for a certain freedom of expression in another part of the world that wouldn’t work back home—a fundamental pivot that has to take place in order to stay relevant. But marketers also have to know when to say no to a shift that dissipates the mission of the brand too drastically.
5. Marketing Technologies: As marketers try to navigate quickly evolving digital approaches, they also have to consider the impact that brand new technologies could have on their business. Part of today’s marketing conversation has to include the emergence of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality—with leaders beginning to understand how and when to invest in these tools.
6. Finding Purpose: Behind so much of each of the above topics—from talent troubles to the new world of artificial intelligence—is the central question for marketers of purpose. Where do we invest and where do we pull back? When do we let go of the past? Who are the people we need, and what impact are we trying to make? Behind the answer to each question is the higher-level spark—that which makes up our purpose and triggers our mission as marketers.

Marketing dreams—of a perfect talent pool, a humming digital machine, evidence of investments well spent, and a borderless brand that stays strong locally and globally—exist at BCG, as well. The only response is to keep making the investments, taking risks and experimenting, and pushing to reach these goals.

At BCG, we have faced the difficulties of leaving behind old campaigns that may have served us well when it’s time to invest in and take a chance with a new one. We have had to look at our mission with fresh eyes, understand how to inject a core purpose globally and stay consistent, and continually find the best talent—as well as work with the top talent we already have—to get the job done.

We pushed through the daunting challenge of our own digital transformation, for example, by taking an agile approach and leaving behind our old website and dozens of local sites. And now we’re very proud of the new bcg.com, its global reach as well as its loyalty to the firm’s values, mission, and brand.

Still, the marketing battles go on, with unexpected challenges at every turn. I'm excited to explore each of these topics in more depth—and propose concrete solutions—through a series of posts over the next few months. Maybe we can’t hold out for a marketing utopia, but I believe there’s comfort to be found in knowing that the struggle is universal—and that our efforts bring real results.