Monday, 27 April 2020

5 Leadership Articles For CMOs During These Uncertain Times

These are, of course, very different times we all find ourselves in. And while I continue to struggle with what to write at this moment, I am not a loss for what to read, for there are some truly fantastic pieces being written about topics such as crisis management and leadership.

Here are excerpts linking to five recent articles I think CMOs (and anyone else for that matter) will find useful right now:

Crisis Management: The Overlooked Leadership Skill

The following is an excerpt from “Crisis Management: The Overlooked Leadership Skill” by Gary Burnison.

No one thinks much about a certain leadership quality — until the you-know-what hits the fan.

The quality I’m referring to is crisis management.

Thankfully, true crises are relatively rare occurrences. They are the black swans of leadership.

We’ve done nearly 70 million assessments of executives, so we know what makes a great leader — the best-in-class who are among the top 20%. Our research shows that three of the four qualities of a great business leader are largely intuitive: (1) sets vision and strategy; (2) drives growth; and (3) displays financial acumen.

The fourth is managing crises. It’s underappreciated, overlooked, and often not even one of the top requirements — until a crisis hits.

This is one of those times. A month ago, when the stock market was making all-time highs, only the rare few could have predicted universities would close, companies would tell employees to work from home en masse, and the NBA season would abruptly be suspended, followed by museums, cathedrals, and Broadway.

Click here to read the full article.

These Six Intelligences Will Drive Smart Leadership in Disrupted Times

The following is an excerpt from “These Six Intelligences Will Drive Smart Leadership in Disrupted Times” by John Kao.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to reveal gaps and discontinuities. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed how some leaders are challenged by the unexpected and the need to innovate “ahead of the curve.” The crisis heightens our need to re-evaluate prevailing models of leadership that have sometimes been found wanting.

Coronavirus is an extreme wakeup call, but it is emblematic of an era whose very essence is disruption. Even before the current pandemic, we lived in a perfect storm of accelerated innovation, geopolitical uncertainty and black swans. Noted science fiction author William Gibson captured the singular nature of our times with one comment, “We have no future, because our present is so disrupted.”

Click here to read the full article.

Are You Leading Through the Crisis … or Managing the Response?

The following is an excerpt from “Are You Leading Through the Crisis…or Managing the Response?” by Eric J. Marcus and Leonard Marcus.

The coronavirus crisis, like every crisis, is unfolding over an arc of time with a beginning, middle, and end. It is useful to think what distinguishes what was, is, and will be. There was a past of relative stability and predictability. There now is chaos and disruption. There will be … a different state. As this future unfolds, some organizations will be resilient. For others, this future will be catastrophic. The actions of executives and their teams now, in the midst of this crisis, will significantly determine their fate.

Click here to read the full article.

How Humor Can Be A Leader’s Friend in a Crisis

The following is an excerpt from “How Humor Can Be a Leader’s Friend in a Crisis” by John Baldoni.

There’s an old show business adage that seems perfect for our times. “Life is easy,” goes the saying. “Comedy is hard.”

And so when I connected with Trevor Smith, who bills himself as Certified Laughter Leader of the World Laughter Tour, Inc., I knew he would have some good advice for leaders dealing with the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click here to read the full article.

How to Make Your Teams Stronger in a Crisis

The following is an excerpt from “How to Make Your Teams Stronger in a Crisis” by Phil Kleweno and Pete Gerend.  

The way corporate teams work together has evolved in recent years, moving from top-down and expertise-driven to an approach built around co-creating and purpose. Whereas in the past, executive teams have traditionally focused on planning and reviewing operations at a detailed level, today the best teams are rebalancing their time to emphasize the development of strategy, culture and talent. 

Click here to read the full article.

                                                                                               

Find out more about how to show true leadership and set the course for marketing teams in uncertain times with the CMO Spark Newsletter.



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Friday, 24 April 2020

How to Work from Home Using Social Media

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home restrictions, individuals and businesses are being forced to come up with new ways to connect online while out of the office. Suddenly, every business is a remote business, held together by digital links. With that in mind, here are just a few of the smart ways to work from home using social media.

1 – Video conferencing 

OK, this is almost a no-brainer, but you need to have some form of face-to-face contact with employees, vendors and other business partners. Right now, it looks like Zoom and Google Hangouts are the two popular options. 

2 – WhatsApp and group messaging

Email is still great for many purposes, but if you need an instant reply for a pressing business issue, think of connecting your home office with a group messaging tool like Slack. If you run a smaller business, even Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp could be used effectively to connect teams.

3 – Facebook Live and livestreaming

You need some way to connect with customers if they aren’t showing up in person at your store or place of business. One of the best options here is a livestreaming option like Facebook Live. At the very least, you can use Facebook Live as a regular, once-a-week “touch base” with your customers. One really surprising result of the lockdown to date has been how many schools (ranging from pre-schools to universities) are transforming into remote learning hubs. So this might be a great chance to offer classes, how-to’s, and micro-classes to your customer base.

4 – Social media marketing

Even if you're being forced to work remotely, you can’t forget about your digital marketing efforts. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the logical choices here simply because they are so easy to manage remotely. Depending on the size of your team, however, you might want to investigate social media apps that enable you to get a big-picture view of what’s happening across all of your social media platforms at once.

5 – New social media collaboration tools

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and that holds true for social media as well. One of the most popular new social media inventions is a co-watching feature from Instagram known as “Watch Party” that enables friends to look at Instagram posts together, transforming what might otherwise be a solitary pursuit into something very social.

6 – Chatbots

Finally, you might want to look into social media chatbots to help solve your customer service needs. Customers are bound to have thousands of questions for you (When is my delivery going to arrive? Can I get a refund for a purchase?), and you don’t want to squander all of your hours replying to the same question, over and over again. Chatbots might be one way to stay connected, while freeing up time for you and your staff.

                                                                                                                                                                                    While working remotely, many marketers are discovering just how much they enjoy using Zoom. It can even work with marketing automation platforms. Find out “How to Quickly and Easily Oracle Eloqua with Zoom.”

 

 



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Thursday, 23 April 2020

Markies Spotlight: Arpine Babloyan of Verndale

Meet the Markies is a series that shines a spotlight on the individuals behind Markie-winning teams. This week's Meet the Markies features Arpine Babloyan, Director of Acquisition Marketing for Verndale.

Tell us about your current role:

I am the Director of Acquisition Marketing for Verndale, responsible for demand generation and supporting our New Business Sales team. I cover areas like campaign orchestration, database health and data management, marketing technology, and KPI measurement.

How do you use Oracle CX solutions in your day-to-day job?

We use Oracle Eloqua for all our marketing campaigns. Nurture campaigns, newsletters, event management, landing pages, content—you name it. In addition, we use Insight reports to measure some of our key marketing KPIs related to email performance, form performance and conversion rates, and web visits.

What advice do you have for your peers in roles similar to yours? 

Don't be afraid to tackle new projects and to experiment. There will be projects that may seem "too big" or "too hard" or "too risky" but no matter the size of your team, if you believe in what you are doing, do it. Even if it doesn't work out, you will learn from it. But some of the best innovations and unexpected successes come from ideas that seem huge and risky. Every project that was nominated for a Markie that I was part of- seemed "too" something. But this is what ultimately made them stand out and made a difference.

What is something that gets you excited about your job?

Knowing that I am making a difference. Whether it is a difference for individuals or businesses, it's exciting to know that my company helps people succeed.

What would winning a Markie Award mean for you and your team/ organization?

It would be a great accomplishment for our marketing team and give us the ability to showcase the difference we are making for the company.

What is a fun fact about you?

I can write in many different handwritings.

                                                                

Marketing automation makes a huge difference in campaigns. Find out "5 Keys to Successful Automated Marketing."

 



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Markies Spotlight: Alpine Babloyan of Verndale

Meet the Markies is a series that shines a spotlight on the individuals behind Markie-winning teams. This week's Meet the Markies features Arpine Babloyan, Director of Acquisition Marketing for Verndale.

Tell us about your current role:

I am the Director of Acquisition Marketing for Verndale, responsible for demand generation and supporting our New Business Sales team. I cover areas like campaign orchestration, database health and data management, marketing technology, and KPI measurement.

How do you use Oracle CX solutions in your day-to-day job?

We use Oracle Eloqua for all our marketing campaigns. Nurture campaigns, newsletters, event management, landing pages, content—you name it. In addition, we use Insight reports to measure some of our key marketing KPIs related to email performance, form performance and conversion rates, and web visits.

What advice do you have for your peers in roles similar to yours? For example, share advice based on what you learned in your Markie award-winning project; one way you’ve improved your org’s effectiveness or efficiency; or one way you’ve improved the customer experience using Oracle solutions.

Don't be afraid to tackle new projects and to experiment. There will be projects that may seem "too big" or "too hard" or "too risky" but no matter the size of your team, if you believe in what you are doing, do it. Even if it doesn't work out, you will learn from it. But some of the best innovations and unexpected successes come from ideas that seem huge and risky. Every project that was nominated for a Markie that I was part of- seemed "too" something. But this is what ultimately made them stand out and made a difference.

What is something that gets you excited about your job?

Knowing that I am making a difference. Whether it is a difference for individuals or businesses, it's exciting to know that my company helps people succeed.

What would winning a Markie Award mean for you and your team/ organization?

It would be a great accomplishment for our marketing team and give us the ability to showcase the difference we are making for the company.

What is a fun fact about you?

I can write in many different handwritings.

                                                                

Marketing automation makes a huge difference in campaigns. Find out "5 Keys to Successful Automated Marketing."

 



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E-commerce Email Ideas To Boost Your Sales

According to a recent study, for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you see $42 in return. With ROI not exactly easy to prove from other methods of advertising, this gives email marketing quite a competitive edge over other efforts. In other words, it’s an incredibly valuable channel for your online business.  A well-executed…

The post E-commerce Email Ideas To Boost Your Sales appeared first on Benchmarkemail.



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Wednesday, 22 April 2020

Can Personalization and Marketing Automation Play Well Together?

It doesn’t seem like marketing automation and personalization would go well together. Automation seems about as impersonal as it gets. But actually, automation is what allows you to implement personalization on a large scale, and in today’s marketplace, that’s essential for success. Remember the garish, flashing banner ads you used to see on online? They…

The post Can Personalization and Marketing Automation Play Well Together? appeared first on Benchmarkemail.



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5 Ways Marketing and Sales Should Align During a Crisis or Disaster

In the best of times, marketing and sales teams need to work together in order to produce the best results. This means openly and clearly communicating with each other as well as sharing customer data. That way, marketing can properly attract, qualify, and nurture leads and then hand them over for sales to take across the finish line.

When a crisis or disaster occurs, you’ll need to adjust to disruptions on multiple fronts, whether it’s having most of or all of your teams work remotely, revising your marketing campaigns, or rethinking your messaging.  

It will become important for marketing and sales to be there for their customers as well as for each other. Having the right support and stability can play key roles in helping organizations and teams remain calm and assess what needs to be done both long and short term.

That will require strong leadership, prioritized objectives, and teamwork.

Here are five things marketing and sales teams should do:

1) Show empathy and sensitivity for your customers. 

Remember that people might be experiencing huge disruptions to their careers and lives in general. Some industries might be particularly affected by a crisis or disaster, and there could be ripple effects that resonate throughout the business world (and economy itself).  Communications and outreach from marketing and sales should show the right amount of sensitivity and acknowledge that everyone could be experiencing stress and anxiety. As a recent HBR article stated, you want to be honest, upfront, and genuine in what communicating what is going on. You should be focused on helping your customers with some of the business problems they are now experiencing and showing how they can adapt their plans for what is going on.

2) Show empathy and sensitivity for each other.

Marketing and sales should always show empathy and sensitivity for each other and for everyone on their teams. This becomes even more important during a difficult time. Everybody might be facing hardships, and it’s important to cut each other at least a little slack, since someone could be having trouble in their personal lives, health issues, trying to raise and reassure their children, and just dealing with uncertainties in general. Therefore, teams should stay connected, communicate as clearly as possible about whatever difficulties they’re facing to see if anyone can help, and try not to be too hard on each other and themselves.

3) Do not push and try to make a hard sell about anything.

Marketing’s unapologetic truth teller Katie Martell recently said that marketers should not try to capitalize on this crisis in any way and instead act ethically. This means now is not the time to be attempting to do a hard sell. People have a great many other things on their minds. A sales email or huge push to make a conversion are probably not the way to go when customers are worried about many other things in both their personal and professional lives. A softer sell and just providing support are the smarter plays. Both marketing and sales should strive to offer information and solutions that are relevant and useful to customers during an uncertain time. Even just a blog or newsletter that might help distract someone from current events or give an insight into their jobs are fine so long as they are more trying to inform and educate an audience rather than outright sell something to them.

4) Strike the right tone.

Many businesses are reassessing their messaging and communication strategy during this crisis. You must strike an appropriate tone for outreaches from both marketing and sales. The tone has to be consistent and clear to prevent confusion and let customers know they can rely on you. Some light humor might be appropriate, but only if it suits the circumstances and doesn’t try to too hard to be funny. Like any other communication, it would have to be sensitive and, thus, something to be careful about.  Many times, it might be best to not any attempt at humor at all. The right tone, in fact, can change on a case-by-case basis and from event to event, but overall, it might be respectful, helpful, and understanding.

5) Put the relationship first.

Strong relationships take time to build and nurture. When one side is in distress, the other works to provide comfort and support. This takes showing sensitivity and empathy, striking the right tone when communicating, and trying to be helpful and understanding. A hard sell or inappropriate humor could undermine the relationship you have with your customers due to the lack of sensitivity and understanding you might be showing. Over time, you have built up trust on both sides, and be there for them in a difficult moment rather than only trying to make a conversion or be overly clever. Right now, you should concentrate on how you can help your customers get through this, even if it’s only as small as checking in on them, as their well-being, and that of your marketing and sales teams, comes first.

                                                                                         

During a crisis or world event, it’s not business as usual, especially when it comes to the content you provide. Find out more about “Content Marketing During a Crisis or World Event.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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