A recent Harvard Business Review article, entitled "The Rebirth of the CMO" discuss's the digital marketing transformation that has changed the role of CMO's. And marketing.
"Digitally enabled tools and processes have altered what and how a business sells, flipped the tables on the typical customer relationship, introduced a glut of new channels and competitors, and made it harder for organizations to break through the “noise.”
Flipped the tables on the typical customer relationship? Harder to break through the noise? Clearly, big companies see what's happening in internet marketing.
This change is even more profound for small and medium sized business.
Senior managers at smaller firms need to recruit and reward a new skill set. I'm calling it the marketing development skill set.
Marketing developers mix the skills of web developers and marketing managers.
Good marketing developers are strategic AND hands on tactical. They have set up and are profitably running measurable and repeatable marketing processes and systems. Their value is clear because the digital marketing world is far more measurable, and our efforts are more quantifiable, than ever before. And these folks, are instrinsically motivated to work to goal, strategy, execution, data, and improvement.
If you have a good marketing developer, cherish her/him… pay them well, and don’t tell anybody how lucky you are to have them.
A Marketing Developer is a "MARKETER" because...
They understand the business model, the market, the customers, and how communication assets work to create value, and profit.
They understand the human nature of purchase.
They have up-to-date knowledge of internet and inbound marketing from SEO/SEM to email to social and more.
They are smart marketing managers. With just a "soupcon" of poetry.
A Marketing Developer is a "DEVELOPER"/geek because...
They love meaningful data and fact based marketing. (See How To Unlock The ROI of Your Marketing with Analytics )
They understand software packages like CRM and ERP, Marketing Automation, and CMS and Analytics/Adwords well enough to know what is possible.
AND they know what it takes to make them work together... even at small, but very profitable levels.
They are like smart web developers. With a little code.
And there is one more crucial skill.
It’s Design Thinking. (It’s common sense?)
I’m not talking about “graphic design” here. (Though having great design and user experience is crucial)
Design thinking is knowing “what is possible” AND “what is possible with the resources we have”.
It's creating value with the tools at hand, or using new tools that are solid, affordable, and available.
Small and medium sized biz CEO’s are usually this kind of bottom line “design thinker”.
Today's marketers need that quality too. (If it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense.)
Marketing Developers create and execute measurable efforts that bring real value, usually in the form of online leads and sales. Smart managers trust the data.
Post Script:
I searched “Marketing Developer Job Description”. There are a few “intern” that I found at nine or ten dollars an hour. That’s decidedly not what I’m talking about.
Do you have a Marketing Developer?
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