As my partner, Art Saxby, is fond of saying, “The best marketing takes no marketing dollars.” What he means is that the stuff that makes marketing work—and work most efficiently—is done before a dollar is spent. After working with nearly 1,000 mid-market CEOs to capture or recover growth, here’s what we’ve learned:
Mon, Aug 4, 2014 — Vistage CEO Confidence Index is Steady and Strong Last quarter, and every quarter since 2003, Vistage International – the leading firm of Peer Advisory Board Groups for CEOs – fielded a survey of its CEO membership on their attitudes and perceptions around the prospects of growth. Dr. Richard Curtin of the University of Michigan analyzes the periodic study. As a business leader you may find it worth watching. Heck, look how predictive these attitudes are to changes in US GDP?
Wed, Apr 16, 2014 — For growth oriented companies, the stakes couldn’t be higher. To grow at the rates that a CEO would like, marketing’s role as business strategist, customer megaphone, product architect, chief revenue planner and demand tactician is critical. And if they want to preserve their bottom line, they have to manage their marketing ROI with previously unheard of vigilance.
Sat, Jun 29, 2013 — Today's blog is by guest blogger, Des Cahill. I recently enjoyed reading Barbara Fowler’s blog post “Hiring the Right CMO”, which outlines the things CEOs should thing about when considering the right CMO for their company. As a CMO, I thought it would be interesting to flip the perspective and outline what a CMO should look for in a CEO they might work for. Caveat - my background is primarily as a marketing executive (CMO, VP Marketing, VP Product) in Silicon Valley tech companies both large (Apple, Netscape, Autonomy) and start-ups (efax.com, Ensighten). So my views reflect primarily a Silicon Valley tech and B2B perspective. I also spent 5 years as CEO of a start-up (Habeas), so I do bring a view from both sides when considering what it takes to create a successful working relationship for a CEO and CMO.
Sun, May 26, 2013 — The blog was originally published on HR.com as Marketing Maverick Meets Team-Oriented Techie: How to Hire the Right Type of CMO. Marketing used to be an art; has it been reduced to just a science? Not entirely, but science has become more and more important as technology gives us additional information on the buying process. And marketing and sales have changed profoundly. Digital has given consumers the power to turn traditional business models upside down, and marketing has become increasingly data-driven. A deep understanding of how this new model of digital communication fits in with the numbers is paramount. It’s a tough bill to fill for a chief marketing officer (CMO), despite the fact that there are plenty of people out there who claim they can “do digital.”
