Originally published on LinkedIn.com on May 4, 2016 By Anand Thaker
Are you a marketing leader today? If so, then you are likely gaining the experience of a high-growth entrepreneur, next generation C-level executive or CEO.
At the recent MarTech Conference, hosted by Scott Brinker, I met the Allocadia folks who were had launched a great campaign “I #RunMarketing like _____”. The first thought that came to mind was ‘entrepreneur‘.
Spending time with various high-growth companies and mature startups, Here’s a break down of responsibilities of marketing:
- Budgeting, Planning and Performance (Allocadia)
- Agile Management (Hacking Marketing, WorkGreat)
- Customer Success / Experience (StrikeDeck, TrustFuel)
- Trends & Competitive Intelligence (TrackMaven)
- Customer Needs & Insights (Kano Model, Product Marketing)
- Operations & Technology
- Brand / Positioning / Communication (of course!)
- Alignment & Coordination (sales, finance, product, HR)
- Culture (Leadership)
- Go-To-Market Strategy (You!)
Customer-Centricity in Overdrive
Those who focus on scale, consumers and face tremendous competition are always in a constant state of new opportunity research. Balance that with the necessary wisdom of an organization’s capabilities now becomes a new foundation to any high-growth sustainable business – new or evolving:
Because the purpose of business is to create a customer,
the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation.
Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.
Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”
– Peter Drucker
In our current state of rapid innovation, customer-centric needs evolve rapidly. Competitors are only running faster as the red queen effect is becoming more relevant and extending beyond SaaS tech.
For a CMO, certain skills and experiences are still required to achieve CEO leadership. However, regardless of the title, marketing leaders who can achieve a tighter connection across those capabilities listed above will deliver a resilient organization.
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. – Jamais Cascio
Your Turn…
While I could really go into each of those areas of responsibilities, I’ll save them for future posts. So in the meantime…
As a marketing leader, how have you had to deliver on some of these responsibilities? How has it differentiated you from other members of the organization?
Anand Thaker
Advisor | Builder | Leader in Marketing Technology, Growth Strategy & Decision Intelligence