Guest post by Michael Collins.
We’re reinventing everything these days. It’s kind of the nature of not just business but the world. Everything we knew yesterday is outmoded today. And who knows what tomorrow will show us? In a constant, quickening cycle of transformation and disruption in technology and business, marketing is forced to be as nimble and inventive as the products, ideas, and brands it serves.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Change is the only constant in life.” It originates from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, whose writings share the common theme that the nature of life itself is flux, and resisting this natural flow is to our own detriment.
Change is constant. Change is difficult. And typically, the better and faster our response to it, the more successful we are. Nowhere is this more true than in the business world, where there are countless examples of the disruptors and the disrupted.
Given the constant state of change, in my opinion it’s time to reinvent marketing. And the key is expanding technology enablement.
You need to arm your teams. You need to give them freedom to and ability to move with speed. Plus, you need to give them ownership of what they do on a local level to harness their passion and accountability.
And of course, the key to all that is your marketing technology automation stack—giving your global teams the reach and agility they need and giving your local markets tools they’ll enjoy using.
At CFA Institute, we serve over 450,000 customers across 160 countries and territories, with many language and cultures, all while partnering with 151 member societies. And we’re fortunate to be backed by over 8,000 volunteers who help us drive our programs for investment management professionals across the world.
As you might expect, supporting our members and maximizing our reach calls for us to create and implement highly effective local/global marketing strategies.
As CMO, I’m constantly seeking to drive innovation in the most efficient way possible. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about leading projects from a centralized marketing team, no matter how talented your team,you just don’t know what you don’t know about your local customers’ needs and—you guessed it—they’re constantly changing.
We employ a number of marketing automation tools including Salesforce, Marketing, Percolate, Sitecore and more to boost our productivity. My team has successfully adapted to onboarding new tools as quickly as they can. We utilize a number of other technology products that help us automate, work in a distributed fashion, and provide the transparency and flexibility that we need.
CFA Institute has had a lot of success with the marketing technology solutions we have in place, but I’d love to hear what experiences you’ve had—both good and bad—in giving your marketing team the tools to move as quickly as these times demand.
As managing director of Services Delivery and chief marketing officer, Michael Collins is accountable for leading and developing the organization’s Services Delivery functions, including regional and B2B marketing, content engagement & publishing, credentialing product marketing, global brand & communications, and omnichannel communications & services. Collins holds a BA degree in Communications from Rowan University in New Jersey. You can connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.