In a recent Forbes article, “Connecting the Dots Around The Customer,” David Cooperstein, vice president of Forrester Research, wrote, “to truly earn their place at the executive table, chief marketing officers today must go beyond overseeing marketing programs. They must drive the brand promise into the hearts and minds of everyone in their organization.” Marketing owns the corporate message, and as corporations continue to work toward becoming increasingly customer-centric, the CMO must develop expertise in reaching across functional areas of the organization to infuse the message into the DNA of the corporate culture.
Why? A recent Gallup Poll demonstrates the significant communication gap that exists within most organizations. According to Gallup only 41 percent of managers and just 9 percent of front line workers know what their company stands for and what differentiates it from the competition. If managers and employees do not know this critical information, it is impossible for them to deliver a clear, compelling and consistent story in the market. Which is why forward-think CMOs are engaging strategic business consulting firms to develop and deploy a Corporate Messaging Platform that clearing identifies critical elements of their story, including mandatory messages regarding the value the company delivers to customers and its key points of difference. This messaging platform is then infused across the company through organizational change initiatives that utilize the perfect blend of training, educational tools and internal communication programs designed to create lasting change in the customer experience.
CMOs who continue to focus their time, attention and resources exclusively toward advertising and marketing campaigns designed to generate brand awareness and product promotion will fail to bring value to the customer, and therefore to the organization as a whole. However, CMOs who reach across functional areas of the business and drive the corporate story into the hearts and minds of employees will have a material impact on the customer experience and business results.
Download this white paper to discover why marketing must infuse the corporate message into the hearts and minds of employees.
