Customers Grab More Of The Spotlight.(Industry Trend or Event)

Chief marketing officers (CMO) have taken on a more strategic role as companies move from mere selling to full-blown customer relationship management. The CMO's job description varies by industry and company, with business-to-consumer firms emphasizing brand management and customer acquisition while business-to-business firms stress lead generation, sales support and business development because they have longer sales cycles. Naming a 'chief customer officer' can send the wrong message within an organization, giving other staff the impression that aiding customers is not their job. Having the CMO report directly to the CEO is often a good idea, but marketing officers still remain at the mercy of sales results because there are few concrete metrics for determining their performance. Four ways a company can gauge the effectiveness of a marketing initiative are establishing metrics for key deliverables, measuring and tracking customer value, tying deliverables to customer acquisition and other tangible value increases, and using tools such as customer surveys and focus groups.