A few weeks back, I caught this CMO Council article, Global Marketing is Today's Most Complex and Challenges Business Operational Unit and told my small to medium sized clients to not worry so much because the big boys and girls have many of the same marketing issues they are facing.

CMOs are being pulled in so many directions that they are simply doing random acts of marketing that will kill them in the end.

How can you succeed while others continue to fail?  Here are a seven ideas.

  1. Get top management support of your plan
  2. Get clear, reasonable and meaningful KPI goals from management
  3. Gain ownership or at least more influence over your P&L
  4. Do the basics better (e.g., competitive benchmarking, customer service, customer segmentation etc.)
  5. Do less things better.  Focus only one things that help you gain and keep profitable customers
  6. Automate as many processes as you can
  7. Build integrated customer information systems

Work to control your controllables and you'll have more time for creative thinking and planning which leads to breakthrough innovation!