营销大师:营销不是首席营销官的首要职责

    座谈会上常常有人问我关于首席营销官角色的问题。我的基本解释是，首席营销官的职责具有多样性。根据所在公司和行业的不同，首席营销官这个职位往往意味着要承担不同的职责。

    但事情本不该如此。

    简言之，首席营销官应该始终关注促进增长的方法。首席营销官应该支持消费者，促进创新，同时成为市场新机遇的发现者。作为CEO的搭档，首席营销官必须以总经理的视角考虑问题，了解公司的方方面面——而不是仅仅只关注“营销”。

    或许，营销主管用于促进增长的手段不同于他们的同事所采用的方法，但是，营销职能的最终目标是促进收入增长。

    迈克尔•弗朗西斯是美国塔吉特百货公司（Target）的首席营销官。他把顶级设计师推向全民，从而帮助重新定义了“折扣”这个概念。由此，塔吉特发展成为一家主要的零售企业。担任麦当劳（McDonalds）首席营销官时，尼尔•戈登意识到了多元文化消费者的重要性，并以此促进了整体业务的增长。美国运通公司（American Express）首席营销官约翰•海耶斯认识到消费者希望举办大众消费活动，随后设计了今天的“星期六小商家”（Small Business Saturday）促销活动。从美国政府到各地社区，所有人都对这个活动表示支持。除提升美国运通公司的知名度外，这个活动还促进了它信用卡业务的增长。

    许多高管跟我说，我不是一个“典型的首席营销官”——对于我重视“公司”而非只重视营销的做法，他们感到惊讶。诚然，身为首席营销官，我重视广告、品牌化和整体传播战略工作。但是，我同时还重视企业文化和文化冲突、销售和新的收入来源。我的职责是如何利用营销手段了解消费者和市场趋势——所有这些工作都以促进业务增长为目标。毕竟，产生收入是最终目的。否则，也就没有“公司”可言了。

    我之所以担任甘尼特报业集团（Gannett）的首席销售官一职，原因在于，甘尼特CEO格雷西亚•马托利希望她的首位首席营销官在团队中发挥战略性作用——不仅推动变革，而且以业绩为导向。我在就任之初就清楚地认识到，为了给客户提供最佳服务，以消费者为中心，我们需要打造一个全国性的销售部门，让它对营销负责。这种整合销售和营销的方式改变了我们进入市场的方式。我们成功地改变了市场对甘尼特的认识，创建了新型战略合作伙伴关系，同时推动了企业以全新的方式实现增长。

    鉴于商界前所未有的变化速度和消费者行为的不断改变，我们可以说首席营销官现在发挥的作用比以往任何时候都更加重要。首席营销官需要以促进增长和盈利为目标，重视公司的方方面面，想客户之所想，提出新的创意。

    最后，如果你不关注收入，你就不该担任首席营销官。

    麦尔彦•巴尼卡瑞姆是甘尼特报业集团的高级副总裁和首席营销官。(财富中文网)

    译者：乔树静/汪皓

    I'm often on panels where I'm asked about the role of the chief marketing officer. Right out of the gate, I explain that there are a variety of CMO roles, and the title often tends to mean many different things depending on the company and even the field in which you operate.

    But it shouldn't.

    Quite simply, a chief marketing officer should always be focused on ways to generate growth. CMOs should champion the consumer, drive innovation, and be a source for identifying new market opportunities. As a partner to the CEO, he/she has to think like a general manager and understand all aspects of the business -- not just focus on "marketing."

    Now, the tools a marketing executive uses to generate growth might be different from the tools employed by their colleagues, but at the end of the day, growth is what the marketing function is all about.

    Michael Francis was the CMO at Target (TGT) who helped redefine the discount category by making top designers accessible to all. Target became a major retail force as a result. When Neil Golden was CMO at McDonalds (MCD) he realized the importance of his multi-cultural consumer and used these insights to drive growth in the overall business. American Express CMO John Hayes realized that consumers wanted to celebrate Main Street -- and developed a program that is today's Small Business Saturday. Everyone from the U.S. government to local communities have come out to support this initiative, which has grown Amex's (AMX) credit card business on top of its brand visibility.

    I've had numerous executives tell me that I'm not a "typical CMO" -- they've been surprised at my focus on the "business" vs. simply marketing. As CMO, of course I spend time working on advertising, branding, and overall communications strategy. But I also spend time focusing on company culture and cultural change, sales, and new revenue streams. My job is to think about how to use the levers of marketing to gain insight into where consumers and the marketplace are heading -- all with the goal of growing our business. In the end, it's about generating revenue. Without that, there is no "business."

    What drew me to my role here at Gannett (GCI) was the fact that our CEO, Gracia Martore, wanted her first-ever CMO to play a strategic role on her team -- a marketer who would drive change and who was results-oriented. Once I arrived, it became clear to us that in order to best serve our clients and put the consumer at the core of our business, we needed to create a national sales organization and have it report to marketing. Aligning sales and marketing in this way has transformed the way we go to market. We have successfully changed the perception of Gannett in the marketplace, created new strategic partnerships, and helped grow the business in new ways.

    The role a CMO plays today is arguably more critical than ever before, given that the rate of change in business is unprecedented and that consumer behavior is evolving real-time. CMOs need to be able to see "around corners," anticipate consumer needs, and come up with new ideas, all with an eye towards generating growth and profitability.

    At the end of the day, if you're not focused on revenue, you shouldn't be CMO.

    Maryam Banikarim is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Gannett Corp Inc.