Know-How Exchange : Strategy

The most pressing issues in the coming years will probably not be too different from what they've always been:

1. Identifying and understanding the target audience -- needs, values, attitudes, habits, practices, trends, etc. -- and positioning the offering to be most meaningful to that target audience.

2. Creating awareness, initial trial, repeat purchase.

3. Delivering the right product at the right time/place at the right price ... and constantly testing ways to improve everything.

4. Finding, recruiting, hiring, training and motivating the right people to develop, implement and audit results of marketing programs and campaigns.

5. Ensuring that senior management fully appreciates and supports the role and function of Marketing. Providing leadership for Sales, R&D, Product Development, Customer Service, and other functional groups, agencies and suppliers.

Heeey Harry,

here are some of the most pressing issues I'm seeing in the marketplace and there definitely going to be growing out of control on the horizon.

1. Pin pointing the real desires of their target audience in order to better manage a stronger campaign to deal with the real psychological needs of their customers.

2. Cultivating attractive engagement strategies that allow them to better manage as the growing attention deficit of the customer continues to expand.

3. Creating more flexible systems that allow them to better recognize the growing opportunities caused by fragmentation.

4. Managing the continued prevailing new stalls that will arise internally as a result of the constant changes brought on by the 3 noted items above.

5. Learning how to be more visionary, more systematic, more scientific and more creative than they've ever been so that they can grow the company in a very organic way.

Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant,

Deremiah *CPE (Customer Passionate Executive)

*Caring Promotes Exuberance

PS
REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future.

Hi Harry,

Great suggestions so far…my experience shows the following "most pressing issues Chief Marketing Officers face in the coming years in terms of developing strategies for their company's success."

1) clarifying the contract with the CEO: to develop strategies for company success, CMOs need to be aligned with their boss regarding (1) which outcomes are expected from the marketing department, (2) which company decisions and strategy parts are mostly under marketing's control and (3) how success will be measured. See Chapter 3 of itsnotsizedata.com

2) strengthening relationships with other senior executives, especially the CFO and the CIO. For the CFO, it is important the CMO demonstrates accountability and transparent responsibility in investing company resources. This includes pointing out which marketing activities have low impact and should therefore be defunded or substantially adapted. For the CIO, it is important the CMO demonstrates understanding and gratitude for building and maintaining the technology infrastructure necessary for data-driven marketing. See chapters 4-6 of my book, especially "Business is from Mercury, IT is from Jupiter"

3) combining this accountability with ongoing creativity and enthusiasm to experiment in a smart way; see my blog on "helping your creative cats to bring home the bacon" https://analyticdashboards.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/help-your-creative-cats...

Good luck and please share your paper and insights with us!

Prof Koen Pauwels