4 Most Important Trends Marketers Must Adapt to With the Changing Role of CMO

As the evolution of technology continues to create endless new marketing and communication channels, roles within marketing, particularly CMO, are shifting. As these shifts occur, this article by Natasa Djukanovic, CMO, Domain.me,
dives into what marketers should keep a close eye on to understand best practices and division of responsibility. 

There is a never-ending debate about the roles of communications and marketing. And, for every person who says PR encompasses marketing, you can find an equal number of people who say marketing encloses PR. This is an old story and probably is as much of a question around terminology as it is around the function of these two departments.

Hugh MacLeod of GappingVoid famously said “Everything is marketing. (Your job is marketing, your product is marketing, your dog is marketing, your mother is marketing, your daddy is marketing.)” 

That has never been truer than it is today as changing business models and the evolution of technology continue to create endless new marketing and communication channels. Now marketing terminology is not only in use within the communication department, but in many of the other branches of a company, as well. And, in addition to understanding “traditional” marketing terminology, marketers and communication specialists need to be aware of and understand ideas being shared by tech wizards, policymakers, consumer specialists, psychologists, and cultural experts. 

Learn More: The Modern Chief Marketing Officer Is Also Chief Change Agent

It might seem that this evolving landscape only is for large, international companies, like Johnson & Johnson or Uber, that flourish within the global economy and benefit from advanced technological tools. Small company executives don’t have to bother with AI, different cultures, psychology and whatnot, right?

Unfortunately, we can’t afford to think that way. At the heart of all these ideas and this ever-evolving landscape, of course, stands the brand and its values. And, marketers must continue to unify tech, marketing and sales under the wider brand umbrella. You could write a book about the themes that bring these ideas together, but here’s my list of the top four. 

1. Creating Content Takes a Village

Probably the most natural part of marketers’ job in the changing business world is knowing what the content of the website should look like and convey. It is and it will always be a frontline of what the company is and what it stands for. 

Sadly, that’s no longer enough. 

First off, a marketer has to understand how (and how often) the content is consumed and how much revenue it brings in. With the right technical tools (Google Analytics at the least) and the help of your team, which should include a website developer and data analytics specialist, the marketer can get an understanding of what a customer reads and wants to know. This is probably the beginning and the essence of every company’s online presence. 

While the main format in which your website content comes is still largely text, with changing online habits of our users you also should think about video and interactive content, as well. 

Finally, if we are thinking of our offline presence, which has to be closely connected with your online one, we see the opportunity for immersive content, using augmented reality, data sensors and AI to create useful content and a remarkable user experience.  

2. Who Do We Trust? (Select) Influencers

Even though it has been under scrutiny lately, influencer marketing is and always was marketers’ strongest tool - if done right, i.e. the target audience of your company matches the audience of the influencer. You have to understand who you are working with, who your audience is likely to trust, and whether they find your brand valuable. 

The alignment of brand values with the values of its audience is more important than ever. We have all seen strong brand statements on the current political climate, the most notable being Nike’s ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. That is the true impact of influencer marketing.

Working with micro-influencers also has gained visibility lately. If social media users have a relatable presence that is engaging and impactful at a local level, but they only have a few thousand, or even a few hundred, followers, their endorsement is still valuable.

When choosing an influencer to work with, you have to do your homework. It might feel risky at first, but if you chose the right messenger for the message, this marketing tactic will always help you connect with the end customer. Just be sure you are ready to deal with any possible outcome and reaction to that collaboration. Most importantly, stay true to your brand.

3. SEO Is About the Users, Not Computers

One of the most valuable tools of online marketing today is being at the top of Google search results. Working on the optimization of your website and blog content is a marketer’s job, even though it has to be supported by your IT team. When talking about SEO techniques, we often refer to 200+ ranking factors for which to optimize. Those are very technical and specific to the way ranking AI currently works. However, Google itself does not want businesses to focus on technical aspects of their content first. With every algorithm update, Google is trying to incentivize companies to focus on what matters most - creating content for the users, not search engines, and putting an emphasis on content that is unique, valuable, and engaging.

On the other hand, as the market is getting more and more oversaturated with content, it gets harder to rank even for your own brand name. That’s why we have to work on offsite content, too. The first off-site sources are online publications and influencers. 

Finally, it’s very important to take voice search into account these days. According to some estimates, voice shopping should jump to more than 40 billion dollars in 2020. This is not to be ignored, and the good thing is optimizing for voice search will help you understand your users better.

4. Personalization vs. Privatization 

Advertising technology gives us the means to target our customers better than ever, to know exactly who they are and what they want at the moment they want it - at least in theory. But it also messes up our sense of how far we, as marketers, can go with personalization. Sometimes offering personalized services and ads seems like the antithesis of privacy for our customers. However, if we respect the privacy of our customers by making sure they know what they are in for, we are sure we don’t collect more data than we need, and we take good care of the data we do have, it is possible to have both.

In that sense, marketers have to be on top of data privacy and security trends and laws. They have to work with privacy specialists and their IT team to design a system that respects and protects their users while providing an exceptional offering at the same time. The changes we see in this space are just the beginning, and marketers have to be on top of them.

Marketers always wore multiple hats - from communications strategists to copywriters to designers. Nowadays, however, marketers have to learn how to establish communication with the rest of company departments and teach them how and why to take marketing into consideration in the design of their operations. 

Learn More: What’s Next for CMOs in 2020?

The more technology we put into the equation, the more we have to cooperate. And, as new trends continue to pop up, the more crucial it is that we put our customers and their needs at the center of our brand to make sure we keep the foundations of our brand firmly placed in the right location.