What keeps CMO's awake at night?

New customer priorities, changing technologies, the next shiny toy, performance challenges, budget cuts, media shifts … today’s CMO’s and marketing leaders need to balance a growing set of transformational priorities. All while navigating brands and businesses through the never ending polycrisis.

As a marketing community, we have always shown our adaptable and flexible nature. It’s the positive side of the “shiny new toy syndrome”. We’re thin skinned, talk to consumers, follow latest trends, experiment and try to reinvent our brands. We jumped on the train of digital marketing, social media, influencer marketing, full funnel thinking. We saw growth marketing popping up (is there any other marketing objective than delivering growth?) and new topics - such as purpose, sustainability and retail media - keep being added to the marketing agenda

The CMO and marketing roles are becoming more fractioned and responsibilities are split over more C-Diarrhea: Chief Growth Officers, Chief Social Officer and now even the Chief MetaVerse officer.

We all feel the strong tension. Where is the marketing profession going, what are the real big drivers and what should we focus on? The Covid crisis numbed our reflections and questions and we went into short-term “preservation mode”. We can’t stretch it anymore. Urgent topics such as the sustainability agenda and people upskilling need to be addressed asap. Time for CMO’s and marketing leaders to take a step back and create a better helicopter view for the Future of Marketing.

While evolving consumer habits and trends shape and influence the direction of that marketing future, I want to transcend the “daily marketing operations” and trigger a more transformative reflection on 4 massive Big Marketing Shifts: Consumer – Organization – People – Self (or COPS)

The Big Consumer Shift – From consumer-centricity to community-centricity

I wouldn’t pride myself on being a strong marketer, if I didn’t start with the consumer point of view. This consumer-centricity demands that the consumer is the focal point of all decisions related to delivering products, services and experiences to create customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy. Great marketers “get real” and try to understand what really drives individual consumers, on both rational AND emotional level.

Pushing it to the extremes, one might work towards an absolute understanding of consumer behavior on an “individual” level and cater to every single user needs. One to one marketing and media personalization also go into that direction. We start to see cracks in the consumer narrative. She or he does not always know best, deep personalization is often not worth the effort, and what might be good for the individual is not always good for the collective. At the same time, accelerated by social media evolutions, individual consumers gather around ideas, concepts, content and brands. The strong need for “belonging” in a fragmented world only adds to the rising importance of “community of consumers” over “individual consumers”.

The CMO needs to rewire his/her brain and start thinking “community first”. This changes the profession fundamentally. We need to rethink research models, brand engagement strategies, innovation development and even go-to-market and channel strategies.

Community-centricity comes with great opportunities, it can lower costs by reducing the need for paid media (if your community is sizeable enough), it grows consumer retention thanks to ongoing engagement, you still get the voice of the consumer but now more aggregated, transparently ?co-shaped by several consumers, it facilitates stronger feedback loops and it allows for new revenue streams like direct selling to communities.

At the same time, the marketing leader needs to reflect on the new challenges that come with community-centricity: how to steer that community, how do you keep building strong brands while integrating community ideas, how do you protect the essence of your brand, but also … how to avoid the “big community divide” and keep things pleasant. Sports club A community and Sports club B community might not get along very well. One individual can already be nasty, amplified by a wider community, this can take on a whole new dimension. New interaction policies will have to be put in place and brands will need strong views on eg (online) bullying and violence.

Communities don’t have to be “online” in nature. Digital technology can provide an easily accessible "home" to your brand advocates. But even the early Metaverse brands and Web3 community-focused brands are now bringing their communities from URL to IRL.

Key take out: As a marketing leader, you need to switch to community centricity and adapt your wider engagement model to the dynamics of the community over the individual. This will fundamentally change how we craft brand strategies, drive innovation, communicate and sell to people. ?

The Big Organization Shift – From Marketing to Business Transformation

Several Deloitte surveys show a long term decline in the C-suite influence of the CMO. The (non)-balancing of short and long term performance, the creation of many new Chief positions, the nonsense name change from chief marketing officer to chief commercial officer and the distractions created by topical marketing discussions such as the relevance of “purpose marketing”, all led to a decreasing impact of the marketing function. In addition, today’s polycrisis makes it difficult to spend ample time on guiding the organization through change.

The CMO needs to reinvent her/himself as a key business leader and reclaim her/his place at the board table. He or she should proudly present a vision for the direction of the organization, based upon consumer, community and societal changes, the outward-in view. The CMO should be the closest right hand to the CEO, who should balance that outward-in view with the internal organizational view. CEO and CMO need to leave egos behind to avoid dividing the organization. And the CEO of the future should have a strong marketing background. ?

The marketing role should evolve into a transformation role and should have the sharpest overview of all company transformation projects and how they deliver in the end a better solution for the consumer.

A key skill to develop is “integrative thinking” (the opposable mind). It’s the realization that two realities can exist at the same time. The new-style marketing leader should become the expert in bridging and integrating seemingly opposable ideas. It’s not about the now, it’s not about the future, no, the “the future is now”.

To no surprise, the most urgent reality to tackle is “sustainability”, in its widest form. How can marketing leaders drive more sustainable business practices and develop a more sustainable product and service offer. With the reality check that no business can afford to stop profitable business lines overnight. The perfect test for integrative thinking …

Key take out: As a marketing leader, reinvent yourself as the company’s transformation catalyst, dare to present a bold sustainable vision, and approach people and challenges with an “integration” mindset.

The Big People Shift – From structured linear careers paths to intense individual coaching.

It’s clear, the future-fit marketing leader has to be bold and tenacious. Already confronted with the big consumer and the big organizational shifts, there is the “big people shift” to deal with. “People” as in your marketing team. It’s easy to draft a bold vision on paper, but you will need team engagement and followership to move from thinking to doing. Creating buy-in is like walking on a thin line between “steering” and “facilitating self-steering”.

With Gen Z marketers now fully entering the workplace, not only does one need to cater to the different expectations, we also need to reflect on cross-generational differences, without creating a big generational divide. Of course this doesn’t only hold true for the marketing department, but combined with the need to reinvent the marketing profession and its priorities, it leads to an extra challenge: what skills and talents are needed in this changing reality, how do you get your people there and how to match this with their different individual expectations.

The tenacious marketing leader prioritizes “people development” in her/his reflections. Those reflections should be centered around showing empathy, promoting diversity and facilitating constant learning.

Empathy is crucial to deeply understand individual needs. As people leader you need to understand - and even compensate for - the stress that comes with transformation journeys. Each of your team members will have their own needs. At the same time they are trying to cater to your needs and expectations. All needs will be in a constant flux of evolution and change, creating uncertainty and anxiety. Your main job is to create a professional environment where people can feel safe. This equally means actively promoting diversity and encouraging diversity in thinking. A safe, diverse environment will allow people to show their true self, to experiment, try and – sometimes – fail.

The new marketing challenges require fundamentally different skills, and as the marketing community is the proverbial canary in the coal mine, it should be at the forefront of upskilling, reskilling and constant learning. As a leader, this does not only require you, yourself, to stay ahead of the curve, it also makes you responsible for keeping your people employable in the long run. And again, one solution does not fit all. You will need to invest a massive amount of time in co-creating growth plans for all your people. These growth plans need to bring together the individual aspirations of the employee, the needs of the company and a flexible vision on future needs.

Key take out: As a marketing leader, create individual growth plans for your employees, while you build a collective team culture centered around empathy, diversity and “an always learning” mindset.

The Big Self Shift – From Untouchable to Vulnerable

While you’re taking care of your team, who is taking care of you? Take a deep breath. This is an amazing time to make an organizational, societal and environmental impact and steer the marketing profession into a more meaningful direction. And yes, with great opportunity comes great responsibility. You’re taking it on you to drive big transformational shifts, you need to constantly balance opposing ideas, align many stakeholders, keep your people future fit and employable, invest in your own learning and development AND deliver the daily business expectations in a never normal world.

It’s crucial you learn to tap into your energy system and to smartly dose it. A few things can help. Some call it “finding your purpose”, or “finding your north star”, the name doesn’t matter, but I highly recommend an exercise of self-reflection to learn what drives you and what gives you energy. You’re looking for your anchor point, if everything around you seems to collapse, what is your safe haven, what are you doing it for? If you’re faced with tough decisions, what value system will guide you? My “north star” can be summarized in one sentence, but it can also be a collection of words, values or personal ambitions.

Long gone are the times when a leader was untouchable. When the head is aligned to the heart and the heart to the gut and you act from your north star, something magical will happen: you’ll radiate “strong vulnerability”. Not only will this take away stress from your shoulders (the idea you don’t always have to be the strongest one in the room), it will also set a warm example for the people around you. You’ll create natural followership. ?

If you’re a bit like me, there will still be times you reach a boiling point ??. I started practicing yoga, and clearly, I’m not (yet) much of a Zen master. It’s important to be aware of the triggers that get you there. And to have some coping mechanisms in place, your personal emergency button. For me, that’s being physically active, stopping the raging mind and focusing on some hard body work. And always remember, work is just one part in your “pie of life”, next to your family, your friends, your physical health and your mental wellbeing. Box your attention and find the right “amount” of mental availability for all your life priorities.

Key takeout: As a marketing leader, you’ll create natural followership by prioritizing your own wellbeing. Working from your north star, showing vulnerability and knowing your “emergency button” will make you thrive and shine.