CEO of iResearch Services, a global thought leadership agency that focuses on evidence-based research to power thought leadership campaigns.
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An estimated 2.14 billion people will buy goods and services online in 2021. Today’s digital landscape has created an environment where brands must be agile and adaptive with their content strategies to maintain relevance among consumers.
Brands often need a dedicated team to align themselves with the needs of their target audience. This is where a brilliant marketing team can be most effective.
To stay ahead of the curve, we marketers must have an effective thought leadership marketing plan that encompasses the technology shaping the future of marketing. Therefore, I think chief marketing officers need to become chief marketing technology officers.
The Progression From CMO To New-Age CMTO
As artificial intelligence becomes the vanguard, and all things tech merge into every facet of marketing, we must balance art with the science of creating campaigns. The ability to innovate is vital in this new era of marketing. This generates the need for CMOs to become CMTOs who have mastered including technology in their campaigns.
Here are four things CMOs can do to evolve into CMTOs slowly:
1. Create A Lead Generation Strategy
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It can be difficult for marketers to know what data should go into a lead generation plan. Three aspects are essential: prospect demographics, marketing channels and budget. When using technology to explain what your audience is looking for based on data, you can better reach potential customers.
2. Build A Sales Pipeline
The next step is to set up a sales pipeline management process. This will help with forecasting future leads and helping prospects through the buying journey when they’re ready.
3. Develop A Full Appreciation of Metrics
Make sure you have a complete understanding of the metrics that directly impact business performance. This means using empathy, integration and consumer analysis to measure goals rather than vanity key performance indicators like views.
4. Focus On Thought Leadership
The one thing that will never change is how thought leadership can drive innovation in company culture. This is what marketers need to focus on now more than ever before. As marketers, we are directly accountable for the company’s bottom line.
Essential Elements Of The Digital Landscape For CMTOs
When it comes to the digital landscape, be clever with your tactics. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced marketers to reassess consumer buying habits, and it’s given marketers a way to showcase that they can be more than just brand ambassadors.
That idea presents an interesting twist in how we view CMTOs and their roles within successful organizations. They leverage technology to advance the growth of their company. In doing so, they establish themselves as the industry experts on marketing in the digital age on the most popular platforms.
In recent months, marketers have used technology to respond, rebound and reimagine a new world order. These essential elements of this digital landscape are where we, as marketers, represent the most value throughout our organizations:
• Customer engagement and retention: To drive thought leadership marketing plans, focus on customer engagement and retention. As customers become more engaged with a brand’s content or service through its social media channels, the likelihood of customers purchasing from that company goes up significantly. This is because they’re getting what they expected when engaging with your company — something that speaks directly to their needs. For example, positive customer Google reviews with high star ratings or tweets about how happy customers were after ordering their delivery can help generate sales.
• Content distribution channels: Choosing which campaign best suits your business goals can be difficult if you don’t know what data should be driving your decision. For that reason, make sure you know how content distribution channels can enhance the effectiveness of your targeted marketing campaigns. This is how you can reach people on their platforms. We have found that targeting strategies based on how consumers research and buy are becoming increasingly influential as marketers look for an alternative approach moving into the future of marketing.
The Future Of Thought Leadership Marketing Plans
Shift your focus to AI, which allows you to automate specific tasks that are currently being done manually. This way, you can allocate more time and resources to big-ticket items such as customer engagement.
However, AI isn’t just about task automation. AI has moved into the market to help generate content, and it’s important to learn how to adopt this technology into your processes. With AI, marketers can improve productivity.
AI is giving us a new storytelling tool. Not only can you predict which audiences are likely to be interested in viewing your stories, but you also can use research-based marketing strategies for better engagement.
But AI is more than just a big-data processor. It can help you create intuitive data-driven strategies as well. As marketing professionals, we have never been in a better place to showcase our talents to drive engagement for the brands we create these campaigns for.
Thought Leadership: Balancing The Art And Science Of Marketing
In the digital age, we are faced with many challenges like generating new content and finding and attracting engaged audiences. That’s why it’s important to have thought leadership marketing plans that will allow you to innovate when times require being adaptable. Many savvy marketers are turning to thought leaders for insights on developing marketing strategies that reach consumers on their medium.
Marketing has evolved. AI has given marketers a new tool that merges creativity, technology and data for better storytelling. CMOs must encompass several different facets of technology that each performs its function. Marketing is no longer a single entity but rather an integrated system. The landscape is changing faster than ever before, so it is vital to keep up with the latest marketing trends. Also, we must learn to think critically to identify what is best for the organizations for which we are working.
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Author: Yogesh Shah, Forbes Councils Member
