Posted by Christine on October 24, 2009 under Uncategorized | 
Those who hold the Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO, title also carry a dubious distinction: They occupy the C-level executive post with the shortest tenure. To a great extent, the position’s limited life span results from the fact that what was once primarily a circumscribed branding function has ballooned into a diversified strategic and operational role. In addition to traditional market planning and communications, today’s CMOs are often responsible for sales management, product development, channel management, public relations, market research, and customer service — a broad assortment of specialties, some of which used to report into other areas of the organization…..
That’s the beginning of my latest article which was published at CMO.com. Check it out at http://bit.ly/1LtiU2 and let me know what you think.
Tags: article, CMO, Crandell, employment tenure, expert, marketing, new corporate landscape, new economy, sales, strategy, success
Posted by Christine on October 11, 2009 under Uncategorized |
In talking about how to shape this website, a friend of mine recommended that I write about things that ‘bug me’. Adrian Lane, who is now an industry analyst with Securosis (http://securosis.com/blog/adrian-lane-joining-securosis), knows me well. I’ve been ‘bugged’ by PR for quite some time. Customers and prospects want a dialog with their brands. For companies, this is an easy way to get a gold mine of information on evolving needs, points of (dis)satisfaction and a way to strengthen customer loyalty through relationships. Yet, companies and PR agencies insistent upon sticking to the broadcast, one-way, old way of doing PR. Prospective customers, bloggers, editors, writers don’t read them. And I’m tired of reading them…and occasionally having to write them.
I’ve begun a new writing thread on PR. The first article is on shifting the traditional broadcast PR conversation into a rich, diverse, multi-channel relationship. It’s not as scary as it sounds. Read the new article “The ART of Conversing” and let me know what you think. http://www.cloudbook.net/christine-crandell-article-the-art-of-conversing
This doesn’t mean I’m done writing about Sales & Marketing Alignment. We have a lot more ground to cover on that topic over the coming months and year. Keep an eye out for the next article which talks about how to leverage marketing campaigns into highly effective opportunities to align marketers and sales teams. It’s being published in the next issue of Product Strategy Network’s newsletter.
Posted by Christine on October 8, 2009 under Uncategorized |
The podcast with Rod Sloane was a lot of fun even though it was rather early in the morning for me. He used the recording feature of Skype and I was impressed with the clarity of the final product. Rod is in the UK and passionate about sales and marketing alignment; check out his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/rodsloane
The podcast is under 15 minutes and focuses on a checklist of 10 key things to determine how aligned your organization is and some best practices to get there. You can listen to the podcast at http://bit.ly/iR1n or download it to your iPod at iTunes http://bit.ly/GWynf
We’re thinking about doing another podcast, what’s top of your mind?
Posted by Christine on October 2, 2009 under Uncategorized |
September has been a busy month. The feedback from the sales & marketing webinar with PSN and the articles was – “We want more”. More details, more ‘how-tos’. So pen in hand, the weekends have been dedicated to writing several articles. The article on joint sales & marketing campaign management will be published by PSN in October or November. The article on Marketing compensation models is also in the works. And I just wrapped up a webcast with Rod Sloane in the UK; he’s a smart chap.
A new writing thread emerged around public relations. I have strong feelings about how poorly this awareness building tool is leveraged. How many times have we read releases – or written them – about how great this or that product is? That’s not what readers want to hear about. They want to see how companies stand on issues that directly affect them. One article about the ART of conversation is done and a second ‘how to’ on strategic PR is in the works.
I value the feedback you’ve been giving me. It directs my writing because in the end it’s all about you. So keep sending in those ideas and questions. It will lead our conversation into interesting places.