By Andrew Stephen, L’Oréal Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

One in three Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) will be fired this year, according to a recent Forrester Study, 2017 Predictions: Dynamics That Will Shape the Future in the Age of the Customer. The study argues that at least one-third of CMOs will not have the skills required to “drive digital transformation, design exceptional personalised experiences and propel growth”.

I think the prediction is perfectly reasonable. First, there is an increasing push from non-marketing executives for marketing to justify itself. It is a case of justify or die. Second, digital transformation is something that is expected of marketing leaders. However, you cannot be all digital or, for that matter, all offline. A combination is required. Third – and quite rightly – marketing is responsible for growth and needs to actively lead this within organisations.ne in three Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) will be fired this year, according to a recent Forrester Study, 2017 Predictions: Dynamics That Will Shape the Future in the Age of the Customer. The study argues that at least one-third of CMOs will not have the skills required to “drive digital transformation, design exceptional personalised experiences and propel growth”.

WHOLE-BRAIN APPROACH
Current and future marketing leaders are under a lot of scrutiny and they need to recognise this. We are in a time where there are a lot of changes in customer and consumer behaviour. Whilst marketers don’t necessarily have all the answers to address these changes, they need to be more explicit and clear in showing the value of what they do. I think this increased scrutiny is a good thing. It should be viewed as a great opportunity for marketers to highlight the importance of their function and the important role it plays within organisations.

However, how do you avoid being one of the third that could well be looking for a new role? I suggest there are four areas that you need to focus on.

The first is to take a ‘whole brain’ approach to being a marketing leader. Traditionally, much of the necessary marketing skills have been concentrated in the right part of the brain – the creative development of brands and customer experiences or, to put it another way, the art of marketing. Since the huge increase in digital media, there has been a swing in demand for left-brain thinking, concerned with data and analytics – the science of marketing. However, what companies increasingly need is ‘whole’-brain marketers combining the two.

Proof of this is the example of Starbucks and its introduction of an app to pay for coffee in advance. The data showed it was a great initiative, with large numbers of people using the app. However, it had unintended consequences. Starbucks found that it had a drop in footfall at its stores, as potential customers walked on by due to large queues of people waiting to get the coffee they had ordered on the app.

This is a classic example of where attention should have been paid to both data and digitalisation, as well as the physical customer experience. As a leader, you need to be skilled at both. Depending on your industry, you also need to ensure that your teams have sufficient numbers of specialist left- and right-brain marketers.

MARKETING MUST LEAD
To get a good mix of marketers, you need to recruit people with the right skills and also invest in developing these skills amongst existing employees. A development approach can include everything from in-house training programmes, to working with business schools, to secondments with organisations in different sectors and markets. This should not be confined to the marketing area.

Digitalisation gives everyone the power to disseminate messages and engage directly with existing and prospective customers. We are living by a new set of rules, where an organisation’s digital and social media presence isn’t just built by the marketing function. Employees across all functions have a huge influence and need to be considered when looking at an organisation’s digital strategy.

This brings us to the second area. It is very important for marketing to build connections with other functions, breaking down silos as much as possible. If marketing wants to foster and reap the benefits of digital transformation, it must lead it, but it cannot do it on its own. A great example of a collaborative approach is the recent launch of MagicBands by the Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. MagicBands are wristbands that allow visitors to engage with all aspects of the resort, such as entering different parks, unlocking their hotel room door and charging food and merchandise to their account.

The objective was marketing based: to improve the customer experience and encourage people to come back more often. However, the initiative was a huge IT infrastructure project, costing approximately $1 billion. MagicBands have generated huge amounts of valuable customer data and are a classic example of marketing, IT and operations working closely together.

DRIVING BUSINESS
Third, remember that the critical role of marketing is to grow the business. What can you do as a marketing leader to help generate growth in a world that is often growing slowly or not at all? Internally, this is all about fostering a customer-centric culture. Externally, it can be about going beyond having customers, to having fiercely loyal followers, or even fans. A great example of this is Metro Bank in the UK, in the retail banking sector. Within this industry, there are a handful of big players, but not much growth. Metro’s market entry strategy was to focus on customer satisfaction, something competitors were poor at. Metro decided to abolish bureaucratic rules and open at more convenient hours. This would be costly, but with a very loyal fan base that recommends the bank to other customers, large savings are made by not having to do as much advertising. Word-of-mouth is driving the business and creating a growth-focussed business model.

Another great example of customer-centricity is Adobe, which is great at understanding how its customers use its software products and listening and acting on customer feedback. One of the processes is for Adobe’s marketers to pretend to be users, to learn where the pain points are in purchasing and using the software. This information is then fed back into product development, marketing and sales.

Fourth and finally, you need to develop KPIs that help you see and prove how well you’re doing on the three areas above. What measures can you develop to take account of ‘whole brain’ marketing and digitalisation, how will you analyse cross functional collaboration and, importantly, in what ways can you track customer satisfaction and growth?

One of the particular challenges for many marketers is measuring the impact of digitalisation and, more specifically, the value gained from social networks. A good starting point is to realise and understand the value of connections. How do groups of people interact with your brand and one another?

These connections have considerable value in driving satisfaction and sales. Satisfaction comes when customers feel like they are part of a community and they love the brand. This can then drives sales through word-of-mouth.

To conclude, measurement for marketing functions is vital if you are to survive and thrive in the role of Marketing Director. Even if the KPIs are not perfect, I would encourage you to actively track the areas that are value drivers for your business.