When it comes to marketing, everyone from the junior IT recruit to the chairman’s spouse seems eager to pitch their take. So, what’s the playbook when you’re on the receiving end of these ideas

Customer focus is a honorable thing. But it can be tricky–in part because of the three main gaps that every customer leader* faces. 

Every firm needs customer-minded leaders. New research shows: these customer leaders*do better when they serve both customer needs and company needs.

Influential leaders are associated with profitable revenue. Too many executives aren’t. They’re missing out. Time to get into the revenue camp. Profitable growth (the sustainable kind) is high on every CEO’s mind. In fact, next to strategy and organization,...

Authentic leadership is a powerful idea. But if you believe authentic means ‘just being yourself’, you may end up in a mess.

The label ‘digital’ makes marketers throw all leadership rules overboard (from my Marketing Week column). I love technology. When new tech stuff comes out, I immediately fall victim to the ‘wannahave’ mentality. For some it’s shoes. For me it’s gadgets. But...

Marketing is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. To create a truly remarkable experience, other departments must also be heavily involved.

For marketers to overcome strong beliefs inside the company, showing facts may not be enough. Your better bet is to ask a powerful question: “How, exactly?”

Marketers have a reputation for being overwhelmed and always late, but it does not have to be that way.

What’s the best tool for recruiting the wrong people? A long competency list. If you want too much, you may simply not spot the best marketing leaders. Cut to the chase and ask yourself a simple question: “What distinctive skills do we need?”

Why do so many marketers believe using marketing jargon inside their company is okay? It’s not. It’s a career killer.

As a customer-focused leader, you are in the inspiration business. The biggest part of your role is to mobilize people in your company to make a great customer experience happen. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just issuing orders to those around you. Your best bet is to inspire them. But how?

It’s funny, shaping a company’s customer experience (CX) is, perhaps, the biggest challenge of a business. Yet the leaders in charge of this crucial endeavour rarely receive targeted leadership training. It’s time to change this.

In a marketing team, trust is the foundation for everything. No matter how good your team’s marketing skills are, they won’t make a dent in the market unless people give their best and take some risks.

Hand over heart: What do you think of marketers? Many CFOs think that marketers talk bollocks, don’t understand the company, and simply can’t be trusted. To be fair, they sometimes have a point. But most of their perceptions are wrong—there’s more common ground than they may think. In fact, marketing most likely determines the fortunes of your company.

Marketing leaders must constantly show that marketing delivers financial returns. Why? If the organization knows your work delivers a return, the decision makers will give you the resources and support you need for your important marketing projects.

Think about it: you want to change the customer experience that large numbers of people in your company create each day — most of whom don’t work in marketing. The only way to succeed is to become a “leader of leaders.”

As a marketing leader, customer knowledge is key for your business success—but it won’t get you promoted. In my research, what mattered more for marketer’s career success, were product and market knowledege. A good way to gain these insights is to step out of your role.

Many non-marketing leaders don’t fully understand why marketing is essential for the company. That’s why making the case for marketing to them may be more important than you think.

Too many leaders still believe diversity doesn’t matter for company performance—or they can’t improve top team diversity anyway. Publicly firing a chairman won’t change these beliefs. What’s needed are facts that no C-suite leader can ignore. Let’s make the case.

Leadership means sticking to decisions unless there’s a very good reason to change or stop. If you’re leading these meetings, stay calm, refer to the old plan, raise the issues, and suggest solutions. Successful CMOs are great consensus-builders. But at times, “renting a bulldozer” comes in handy.

There’s lots of encouraging news coming out of Cannes. While marketing still faces tactical challenges—social media, big data, ROI, to name just a few—the prevailing belief is that CMOs are back in the driver’s seat. They’re cutting through the clutter and refocusing their attention on what really matters: great work that drives the business.

Delighting customers is high on every CMO’s agenda. This often means building capabilities to serve customers faster, better, or in a more personalised manner. Technology isn’t the hardest part, however; what’s really tough is driving changes within a company. It’s...

People will forget the price, but they’ll never forget the quality, famous designer Jil Sander was once quoted. For marketers, her point couldn’t be more true (from my cmo.com column). Your ideal agency partners may be a six-hour flight away, and expensive. But...

Marketing is only one piece of the customer experience puzzle. To create a truly remarkable experience, other departments must also be heavily involved. The challenge is that colleagues in these other departments don’t perhaps report directly to you. You must find ways to mobilize them, starting with sharing your vision through a powerful story.

Daniel* is a marketer–and Daniel has a problem: he isn’t getting his boss’s attention. A regional marketing head of a large consumer electronics company, he often finds himself last on his boss’s agenda. Daniel isn’t alone. Millions of marketers struggle to get attention. Perhaps their work isn’t seen as critical for the company.

Let’s face it: you’re not in charge of it all. Almost nobody is really in charge of it all. Your boss can disagree with you. Your colleagues can push their own agendas. Even your team members can push their will over yours. We are in the 21st century. The old...

To start a movement, you as leader must take a risk, try something new, and show its effect. Then it’s all about finding your first followers.

WHY LEADING MARKETING IS HARD. Marketers face three crises: trust, control and skills. Leadership is the way through all of them.