The Chief Marketing Officers of today have become Chief Growth Orchestrators. They have more complex jobs leading multi-functional teams and aligning across organizations on priorities.
In a panel discussion lead by Kristin Gower, Global President, B2B, EssenceMediacom, CMOs from global tech and consulting brands shared insights on their changing roles and the importance of customer-centricity in B2B marketing.
It’s important to deliver relevance to your B2B customers in real time, says a CMO of a leading consulting firm. That means hitting them with the right context at the right time and being able to quickly pivot for world-changing events.
Similarly, one CMO from a leading cellphone company emphasized the importance of showing up for B2B customer needs throughout their experience. “It’s what we do and how we show up for our customers,” she said. As a company is performance led, she reminds peers to bring the customer voice in internally.
As we think about how to bring customers to the center of marketing, we need to consider how they see themselves and their businesses challenges and how we can help clients deliver for their business goals.
In B2B, trust and the customer relationship are paramount. AI and other technologies can help improve personalization and build trust among clients. Another way B2B marketers can build trust is by engaging customers in the prototype phase of product and service development.
For one tech CMO, who has deep experience in the B2C side, the two areas are actually quite similar: It’s about connecting products and brands to customers.
In this new world of Gen AI, the marketer can remain in the driver’s seat and be assisted by AI, which enables them to be free to concentrate on the more human side of the job, focusing on more creativity and insights.
