In recent years we’ve noticed a sea change in the skills, knowledge and roles required to be successful in marketing. Increased CMO turnover indicates unprecedented pressure to generate results. That pressure, coupled with massive changes in technology and customer behavior, demands a mastery of several new knowledge domains. CMOs will need assistance from experts and specialists.
We therefore think these roles in the demand generation process are (or will shortly become) critical for success. Note that these are role descriptors, not necessarily job titles.
- Content Developer: This is, essentially, an in-house journalist. This person creates and edits compelling textual material (e.g., whitepapers, blogs, web content) that captures and holds the attention of anyone in the prospect-to-customer sales cycle.
- CRM Administrator: Even though a CRM system is a sales platform, the administrator should sit in marketing and be responsible for configuration, maintenance, customizations and vendor management.
- Data Analyst: This person is the marketing data custodian and skilled in extraction, reporting, interpretation and analysis. The ability to handle overwhelming volumes of data from numerous marketing systems is a requirement. This role may also be part of a more broadly-defined Business Analyst title.
- Process Analyst: He/she will define marketing processes and associated metrics. This person will enable continuous improvement in the organization. This role may also be part of a more broadly-defined Business Analyst title.
- Integrated Marketing Manager: This person defines target segments and the tactics for establishing relationships with prospects in each segment. He/she will execute campaigns for those segments using multiple communication channels. The metrics and results of these campaigns will be ultimately consolidated into a reporting dashboard.
- Social Media Manager: The primary responsibilities for this role will include defining a social media strategy to solve business challenges, creating tactical plans, and executing those plans. This person will be primarily responsible for running social media campaigns.
- Technology Analyst: This is not unlike a typical job that was formerly in the IT domain. This person’s primary responsibilities will be to: respond to automation requests (including replacement of existing solutions); define the needs; create RFPs; evaluate solutions and vendors; drive the selection process; and ensure a complete implementation.
- Web Marketing Analyst: This person is primarily responsible for the company’s website. Included in those responsibilities will be design, development and updates. In addition, he/she needs to manage web analytics, SEO, SEM and PPC. Measuring, analyzing and optimizing online effectiveness is paramount.
- Nurture Campaign Specialist: Lead nurturing is a subspecialty within the broader funnel management framework that is becoming very complex. The creation of content, landing pages, scoring algorithms, drip campaigns, etc. are now highly specialized tasks. Expertise with focused nurture tracks is in demand.
- PPC Manager: He/she will have deep expertise in paid advertising via search engines, social media, relevant web properties, and so forth. The responsibilities will include all target geographies and languages. Optimizing advertising spend based on metrics will be another accountability in this position.
Job titles may or may not resemble this nomenclature. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the title is – it’s about the skills and knowledge that people bring to the table.
