The CMO Club Fall Summit: A-Level Marketing Event
I just attended my very first CMO Club conference and WOW….I mean…just WOW! Two days in NYC, great speakers, awesome networking and fantastic production quality (including a performance mid- morning of the second day by A Great Big World). Think SaaStr but without the egos!
As a B2B/SaaS/Digital Marketer in the Midwest, I tend to end up at either events that are (1) Chicago startup focused or (b) marketing focused but put on by software providers. What I loved about the CMO Club conference was the fact that I heard from those outside of the Midwest, and beyond the MarTech stack providers. Instead I listened to marketing leaders from Dunn& Bradstreet, ESPN, REI, Wells Fargo, Southwest, Quiznos. These CMOs are each dealing with larger branding challenges, shifting priorities, c-suite challenges— and all had terrific perspectives.
I kept a pretty good Twitter feed (#CMOclubSummit) going throughout if you want some play-by-play. In addition (like I do with all events I attend) I like to come away with a few key takeaways for my fellow marketers. Some are easy to implement, some are big concepts — but all felt notable enough to share:
- The MarTech Stack is Growing and Complicated. Not that this is a surprise to any of us right now, it was clear that while there are more and more solutions coming online, the problems and frustrations also continue to grow. That said, some tools mentioned that I either had not heard of before, or were resurfacing included: Spyfu, Owler; Meltwater and Influitive.
- Marketer Are Adopting Product/Engineering Concepts. I heard more than one speaker talk about value stream mapping and promoting adoption of Agile methodologies in marketing. This trend toward deconstructing the traditional hierarchy in project work has been in place in the marketing organizations of many tech startups for a while; will be interesting to see if some of the bigger companies can adopt the same ideas. Articles for each include: What is Value Stream Mapping and the HBR piece on Agile for non-engineers.
- Build a Consistent Message For The Marketing Team. During a session called “Listen Up CMOs: Here’s What Your Team REALLY Needs From You” one of the speakers had a brilliant idea — create a boiler plate slide about marketing and use that every single meeting with your marketing team. Duh — we use boiler plates on every press release to summarize our companies; why not have a boiler plate that summarizes the marketing department and the goals. Make sure that your team is always on the same page, same mission, same direction. This seems so basic — but I love it and will implement going forward.
- Simple Brands Win. Margaret Molloy, CMO at Siegel+Gale moderated a panel that didn’t even mention her HBR article — but I went and checked it out anyway and it is a great read.
The greatest brands make life simple. Think Google, Amazon, or even Dunkin’ Donuts. They cut through the clutter by delivering what consumers want, when they want it, without hassle. By simplifying customer experience in a complex world, these brands win customer loyalty, which drives business results and creates value for shareholders.
A big thank you to my good friend Susan Bryant for turning me on the The CMO Club and their Fall Summit!
