This article is by Margaret Molloy, global CMO for strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale. You can follow her on Twitter at @MargaretMolloy.
It’s easy to become a dinosaur. The rate of change in marketing makes marketers especially vulnerable to this phenomenon. The advent of the empowered consumer, rapid technological innovation, and a changing media landscape have created new opportunities and challenges for marketers. In the spirit of back-to-school, I thought it worthwhile to ask some the best and brightest marketing leaders I know to share their practices on how they stay current. For me, this means immersing myself in the startup/disruptor world. I serve as a CMO judge, beta test new marketing–related tools, and attend meet-ups with early-stage firms. I couple this with talking to marketers at in-person events and by polling my CMO network to understand how our profession is evolving based on business imperatives.
I posed this question to my CMO network – “How do you stay up to date as it relates to marketing?” – and captured some of the responses below.
Reverse Mentoring. "I find people 20 years younger than me and watch them." – Deirdre Bigley, CMO, Bloomberg LP
Broad Perspective. “There is so much information available today – it’s a question of deciphering the good stuff from the noise. To inspire new thinking, I often check social media feeds of those whose opinions I value. I also attend conferences to hear what is going on in the marketplace. For example, I just came back from the Fortune Brainstorm Tech, where my favorite session was on wearables. It's not an obvious link back to my job -- but thinking about consumers, what they want, their motivations and satisfying their needs is always interesting, no matter the product -- because satisfying a consumer need is in essence the heart of marketing.” – Maryam Banikarim, CMO, Gannett Corp.
Download Everything. "I am pretty insatiable with marketing alerts, newsletters and white papers. I download everything seemingly relevant." – Mark Hanna, CMO, Richline Group
Stay Connected. "Just as the channels we use have exploded, the channels I use to stay up to date on key trends in the marketing space have evolved considerably. CMO.com, my LinkedIn and Twitter feeds, the Bloomberg mobile app, and WSJ digital edition are some of my top go-to external content sources. Relationships continue to be a bedrock. There are just more ways to stay connected than ever before." – Dan Marks, Divisional CMO, Sears Holdings
Daily Routine. “I believe in a wide diversity of information sources to stay abreast of current trends and new ideas in marketing. I subscribe to fellow CMO blogs, read the academic Journal of International Marketing, and start my day with a news roundup email relating specifically to my company's industry sector. I check LinkedIn regularly for updates.” – James Latham, CMO, Electro Scientific Industries
Social Media. "The most useful place I go to discover and follow the latest and most interesting info about social media is…social media! My favorite is Twitter, where I can find out about an event on the other side of the world that convened brilliant minds on a topic like data visualization, and by digging into #dataviz I can find some new people to follow and learn from going forward that I might never otherwise have found." – Lisa Shalett, Advisory Director and former Head of Brand Marketing & Digital Strategy, Goldman Sachs
Study and Discuss. “There are three things I do. First, I’m involved in four professional associations: M50, CMO Club, BMA, and B2B London. Second, I study marketing everywhere I see it and discuss with my teams. Third, I read books.” – Philip Clement, Global CMO, Aon Corp.
Back to Basics. “Read as much as I can from various marketing/digital-related magazines and email newsletters. Also attend conferences and dinners where I feel relevant best practices will be shared.” – Elisabeth Charles, senior VP and CMO, PETCO Animal Supplies
Filter, Not Fire Hose. "When it comes to staying informed, think filter, not fire hose. There's an almost unfathomable amount of content produced about digital transformation and marketing, so I focus efforts on identifying smart people and customizing digital tools to act as filters for the latest and best ideas." – Perry Hewitt, Chief Digital Officer, Harvard University
Seek Aggregators. “Everyday, I read sites and social media that aggregate the most important stories for senior marketers such as CMO.com, McKinsey & Co. Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, ePubs from Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley Watcher, AlwaysOn, etc.) and relevant LinkedIn groups (CMO Network, CMO Council, CMO Executive Network, etc).” – Steven Cook, CMO, Fision
