Interview with New York Weekly: CMOs on How CEOs Should Think about Marketing

This article was originally released by New York Weekly.

Marketing is a versatile and powerful tool. Driving sales is just one of its many uses. 

When leveraged effectively, it can assist in product development, identifying new business opportunities, and informing internal communications, among other things. Smart CEOs see the marketing department as a valuable resource that can be used in developing and implementing effective businesswide strategies.

“Some CEOs think of marketing as a standalone function that is focused simply on lead generation or branding and or advertising,” says Julia Fitzgerald, author of “Midsize,” a newly released book that shares success strategies for marketing in midsize businesses. “This approach limits how the marketing team can support the overall enterprise. It gives rise to gaps in connecting the customers’ interests to the rest of the organization. When CEOs come from Finance and Operations, as many do, they may not be aware of the upside of a fully integrated marketing team.”

Julia is a chief marketing officer and senior executive with over 20 years of leadership experience, specializing in strategic work that reinvents brands and drives growth. She has led successes with American Lung Association, Thermos, Sylvan Learning, Sears, Kmart, Vtech, Hallmark, Azek, and Timbertech.

Marketing can resource the entire organization

“Ideally, marketing is seen as the champion of the customer, and the keeper of the brand narrative,” Julia explains. “Operationally, when the marketing department is integrated in cross-functional strategy and decision making, it can help sales, operations, and even HR. It becomes a resource to the entire business, providing the unique insights afforded by its direct connection with customers.”

“Silo” is the term that is often used to describe a business department that is isolated from the overall operations of the organization. While silos seek to protect a department’s resources and enhance its individual performance, their overall impact on the organization at large is typically negative.

“Integration, rather than isolation, is the key to optimizing the impact that marketing can have for an organization,” says Julia. “If your marketing lead knows that a key product is out of inventory, they can shut down the advertising. The marketing department’s skills can be used to improve user experience and conversion on a websiteweb site. It can even help with HR, revamping recruiting materials if the current plan isn’t working.”

Organizations that want to deploy their marketing departments in synergistic ways should build a team that is focused on integration. The best team members will be those who thrive in collaborative environments and have a general management disposition. To play a role in assisting other departments, marketing team members should also be critical thinkers with experience in stretching resources to deliver results.

Cross-functional teams benefit from marketing insights

Julia has worked with a number of organizations in which the CEO understood the value of including marketing experts on cross-functional teams. In one case, product development and marketing collaborated on presenting a new line to retailers, giving both departments a deeper understanding of customer needs and how each could optimize product value.

In another case, Julia saw marketing, development, and IT brought together to develop and implement a strategy for expanding the mission delivery and fundraising efforts of a nationwide not-for-profit organization. The collaboration resulted in web traffic, online donations, and email acquisition increasing at a rate that eclipsed the industry standard.

While CEOs will lead the effort to fully leverage the resources that marketing can provide, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) also play an important role. To truly serve their CEO, CMOs must be able to stay focused on the overall success of the company and be willing to pivot as resources and objectives demand.

“Staying connected on top line objectives and KPIs is great advice for any CMO working with the CEO,” Julia explains. “Marketing enthusiasts can get in the weeds pretty quickly, especially with digital marketing. The entire organization stands to benefit when you stay focused on the big picture and how to deliver growth with the available resources.”