Ainslie Simmonds

My latest article on CMSWire asks CMOs, CEOs, and hiring agencies if industry experience is necessary or overrated. The deeper question I'm getting at here is: are too many great CMO candidates not even getting interviewed because they lack prior industry knowledge? Share your thoughts! Thanks to Sue Keith, Club CMO, Eric Pairitz, James (JD) Dillon, Doug Zarkin and Gaurav Bhatia for being a source! #cmo #marketing #humanresources

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🛫 Just returned from NYC after attending an incredible Goldman Sachs event that brought together CMOs across 30+ portfolio companies. These are best events for learning and networking.  Great venue, speakers, attendees and content.  The event was framed around what makes a strategic CMO from the perspective of the Board, #CEO, #GTM Leaders and Employees.  Some new themes and familiar ones with new wrinkles.  Literally had dozens of worthy topics but tried to extract the key themes here. 📈 Revenue Marketing. Growth Marketing. Intense focus on driving growth. Marketing is a profit center (vs. a cost center) so this mindset is healthy. Discussed tactics - and pitfalls to avoid for delivering growth to earn credibility with the Board and CEO. And the new wrinkle here is the impact of #2….. 🚄 Driving the Go-To-Market Flywheel across Product, Sales, Marketing and CSS.  IMO, this reflects changes in the drivers of growth.  It’s not just Net New.  Its Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Product-Led Growth (PLG) and delivering a great customer experience for retention and upsell. 🗣 Voice of the Customer at Scale. No more focus groups of one. Marketing is the only department to understand customer needs through data, essential for shaping effective go-to-market strategies and product development. I have specific examples to share how we used search data and website visitor data to identify real customer needs. RevOps.  Topic kept coming up.  What is the role of RevOps? Where should RevOps sit? The CEO was a popular answer to ensure neutrality and drive company-wide alignment. Mallory Lee 📺 Video and Company Vision. This one is a bit random. Lots of separate discussion about using video to articulate the CEO’s vision to employees and the markets.  Delivering great EX is another responsibility of the CMO. And that starts with communications. Video is the means to communicate that vision to align employees and the business.  IMO video is one of the most underutilized mediums in B2B right now. Especially given its role in shaping the employee experience. #marketing, #CMO, #growth Ursula Ayrout Paul Albright

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A new Braze study has come up with perhaps my new favorite line about AI and how standard its use has become. “While most professionals say their organizations are already using AI (99%),” the study says, “there’s room for growth when it comes to making use of it to bolster strategic, creative customer engagement.” Think about that: Even as AI joins the ranks of pen, paper, and phone in terms of how ubiquitous it is in marketing, there’s still so much potential. This year’s Customer Engagement Review, conducted with Wakefield Research, found that the top challenges facing marketers in terms of creativity and strategic engagement were having to focus on KPIs (42%), spending too much time on “business-as-usual execution and tasks” (42%), lack of tech for executing creative ideas (41%), and difficulty in demonstrating creative’s ROI (41%). AI, the review says, can help. “In fact, 79% of our research participants say AI can help automate routine tasks and free up more time for creative thinking,” the study says. “Just about half of respondents say they’re using (or planning to use) AI to enhance customer engagement — including to generate creative ideas, automate repetitive tasks, optimize strategies in real time, enhance data analysis, power predictive analytics, [and] personalize campaigns.” Braze’s study found that less than a quarter (24%) of marketers were mapping customer behavior and sentiment, and shared insight that 85% of those brands that had “successfully embrace[d] the craft of customer engagement to power first-party relationships” according to its Customer Engagement Index had exceeded revenue goals last year. “Today’s marketers are facing growing expectations from an increasingly connected consumer, who expects value in exchange for their attention,” says Astha Malik, Braze’s Chief Business Officer. “Marketers are utilizing the power of AI to ignite creativity and craft personalized experiences that resonate with today’s consumer. And by tapping into valuable first-party data and fostering cross-functional collaboration, marketers can transform this data into captivating campaigns that build loyalty and growth.” #ai #aimarketing #aiautomation #marketingkpi #aimarketingstrategies #aimarketingtools #publishing #publishingindustry #digitalpublishing #mediapublishing #digitalmarketing #digitalmediamanager #digitalmediamanagement #MarketingManager #MagazineManager (Photo Source: Braze)

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At Hahn, we believe predictive technology has so much promise—especially for the future of marketing communications. However, many businesses end up not being able to garner significant financial benefits from their AI investments. Eric Siegel says, "Many predictive machine learning projects fail because they focus too much on technology alone as opposed to advancing technology as a strategic business project," and I agree. The tech aspect is undoubtedly important, but we have to see the technology as a part of business strategy rather than some sort of separate entity. Siegel outlines 6 helpful steps for businesses that want to foster collaboration with technical stakeholders throughout ML and AI deployment in this article. I think all the tips are great, but the one that stands out most to me is "Establish the right metrics." Which stood out most to you? #AI #PredictiveMarketing #AIStrategy

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What is SGE, and what does it mean for higher ed marketers? Search Generative Experience employs advanced machine learning techniques to produce organic search results and recommendations that are customized to the unique needs and preferences of each user. SGE "provides 'AI Overviews' in response to certain keyword searches in the form of interactive bubbles above traditional organic search results." Why should we care? Carnegie lays out exactly how higher ed institutions can use this tool to their advantage. #SGE #AI

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Understanding and integrating the user's intent is how you create more profound, lasting relationships with your users. It’s one of the critical pillars of our Intelligent Experiences. Get a deeper dive from the legend Chidi Achara #IX #Huge

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Aligns with our experience. Moving cautiously with this is smart IMHO-->

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Since joining the B2B tech/Fintech world, I’ve loved the depth of data and technology at our fingertips to drive customer behaviors. Those of us who can effectively layer on emotional connection and tap into the human aspects of the businesses we engage are the ones who truly are finding ways to differentiate our messages and demonstrate relevance. That’s what humanizing B2B can do for us. I enjoyed talking g about this and more in the CMSWire CMO Circle podcast. Thanks for having me, Michelle! #B2BMarketing #marketing #fintech #marqeta

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I was shocked when I heard that only 2.6% of CMOs have a seat on B2B boards on the Uncensored CMO Podcast (link below). How is this so low given the evolution of our buyers? With stats suggesting up to 80% of the buying journey is done before they are ready to speak to a sales rep – how is marketing not part of the business strategy discussions? I might be (am) biased, but this needs to change! 🤔 The podcast is a good listen (thanks James Wood for the recommendation). A few things that were discussed resonated, as they have also helped me along the way too! ➡️Speak the Language of Finance: translate as many marketing metrics into ROI, linking to business growth etc! But also help educate the business leaders on the other (valuable) metrics that cannot be measured….because we have a lot of them! ➡️Strategic Vision: Seems obvious, but align your marketing team roles and goals with the business objectives. And make sure the business objectives are part of your regular conversation when adapting/adjusting plans. ➡️Data-Driven Decisions: Whatever data you have access to use in your decision making, even if it is in a test & learn approach! All data & insights is actionable, don’t wait for perfect before you start (spoiler, perfect doesn’t exist!) ➡️Adaptability: Stay agile and be ready to pivot your strategies in response to new trends, technologies, and consumer behaviours. Marketers mastered this skill during Covid, so keep leaning into it! The podcast also does a great job of calling out all the additional benefits the skills of a marketer bring to board discussions - will save that for a different post! 😁 If you’re a marketer and there isn’t marketing representation in your business strategy discussions, here’s the link to the podcast https://lnkd.in/dUKM7BJ7, have a listen and share it with your management team! 😊 #MarketingLeadership #CMO #BoardroomSuccess #UncensoredCMO #PodcastTakeaways #StrategicMarketing #BusinessGrowth #GrowthMindset

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Miller's Musings: Navigating AI and Budget Constraints! In this episode of Miller’s Musings, I dive into a hot topic that’s on every C-suite executive’s mind: Harnessing AI amidst tight budgets. From CEOs to CIOs, CISOs to CMOs, I’ve chatted with them all. And guess what? The struggle is real! But fear not, I’ve got some practical tips to share: ► Prioritize AI Projects: Not every shiny tool is worth the investment! Focus on initiatives that align with your goals. ► Foster Collaboration: Encourage your teams to share insights! You’d be surprised at the creativity that emerges from cross-department conversations. ► Invest in Training: Equip your teams with the skills to maximize your AI tools. A little training goes a long way! Let’s embrace the future together! If you found this video helpful, drop a comment with your own budget-friendly AI tips. #MillersMusings #JamesDwayneGroup #AI #Csuite #Innovation #CIO #CISO #CDO #CEO

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Dumping your CMO as a scapegoat for lost sales? Think again. In many cases, they're not responsible. As the shortest tenured executive at most companies, CMOs are an easy target. But cutting them may not be the right answer if other leaders are making all the client-side decisions. Perhaps it's time for more companies to consider a Fractional CMO and reevaluate who really owns sales decisions, sales leadership, and client relationships. Often, it's not the CMO's responsibility at all. #CMO #MarketingExecutive #MarketingLeader #CreativeLeader #CreativeExecutive

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Everyone keeps wondering why the average CMO tenure keeps getting shorter. I believe, at the heart of it, there's a communication gap. Marketing has become more complex. But a big part of our job is to provide clarity. When marketers start using jargon and acronyms, it can sound to board members and other C-level execs like they are speaking a foreign language. Likewise, marketing leaders often fail to link their work back to core financial metrics, or to go the extra mile to explain clearly how their efforts (and budget) impact revenue. Fortunately, there's a lot we can do to remedy this. Grateful to The Drum for featuring my advice on this topic, along with some of the things we do at Zappi and with Sumeru Equity Partners to bridge the gap. https://lnkd.in/eNcbw_bx #marketing #cmo

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At B2B Summit this year, my colleague Hannibal Scipio led a panel discussion with real talk from partner ecosystem leaders. Some key observations -- "Suppliers must prioritize and communicate the value of all ecosystem partners within their organization, not just through sales numbers, marketing narratives, and slide decks. It is essential to demonstrate a commitment to ecosystem-centric GTM success through actions, behaviors, and core principles – active listening, competence, trust, and leadership." Check out more in Hannibal's blog: https://lnkd.in/dUC4Us78 #partnerecosystems #partnermarketing #B2B

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Advanced AI + Commerce Data are revolutionizing the future of advertising. In my latest blog post, I share how diverse signals converge to enhance performance outcomes at scale: https://bit.ly/3X9JT7p. #AI #CommerceData #Advertising #RetailMedia #CommerceMedia

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Such valuable insights shared by Elana Anderson! Thank you for your contribution to the discussion on marketing and customer relationships. It's clear that data and insights are crucial for effective customer cultivation. However, the use of CDPs may perpetuate the problem of technology overload for marketers. Instead of solely relying on technology, it's time to focus on data strategies that solve business objectives. Identifying those objectives and the necessary data to support them should be the priority, recognizing the the martech technology is secondary. Quite frankly if we get the data right, ALL tools are effective. It's time to shift the focus back to the root of the problem - data. Let's work towards effective data strategies to cultivate the customer relationships marketers covet. #allantgroup #thecustomer, Mike Giambattista, Elana Anderson, Tim Suther, Marc Fanelli, Triadex Services Charles Howley, Jay Graves , Greg Mesaros.

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