The primary role of the Chief Marketing Officer is to be the voice of the customer for the brand-business. The CMO embodies the customer informing the organization. Customer understanding and insight generation are the CMO’s highest priorities. Sure, the CMO has numerous other functions these days. But, being the voice of the customer must be the number one function.
As marketing professionals, we’d like to share a quick lesson in one of the fundamentals of marketing having to do with relevance, what we call being “meaningfully different.” Marketers know it’s not enough to be merely relevant to be worthy of a customer’s admiration and loyalty. Something must be relevantly different to attain this status.
This is a challenging subject. Many people believe the only measure of success is the final results. For example, if you are selling a product did you sell more because of the investment in your communication campaign? If yes, then it is judged a success. If no, it is judged a failure.
Marketing organizations no longer get to define their identities. These meanings to a large extent are crowdsourced. Consumers share in the process of co-creation as they put their own spin on the company’s messages, and in many cases literally create the messages themselves regardless of what the company desires.
We buy a huge range of products because of a drive to enhance the extended self. Athletic wear merchandisers get this, but companies in other verticals may not. Brands that link the consumer to key elements of the self, whether these are schools, favorite musical artists, old neighborhoods, or coveted identities like “successful executive” or “glam girl” have a competitive advantage over others that don’t connect to the extended self-concept.
