CMO talks about the future of marketing leadership

The career journey is not an easy one. For today’s marketing leaders, the path to the top job is likely to be different than for tomorrow’s marketing leaders.

Navigating the ups and downs of an executive team is no mean feat, from running the business in each department to building strong relationships at the board level. After all, the CMO role is an ever-changing beast, as are the expectations placed on those sitting at the top.

So what does the future of marketing leadership look like? Becky Moffat, CMO of HSBC UK, is focused on: “deep collaborator” Connecting the dots across all business functions, not just marketing.

On the Beach’s CMO talks about how joining a board of directors has empowered him to think ‘big picture’ Many, if not all, marketers increasingly need to prove ROI and get budget We are working on the fight against. Kerttu Inkeroinen, director of marketing and e-commerce at LuckySaint, suggests that marketers’ familiarity with a broader business environment could help them land broader management roles, such as CEO roles. are doing.

Marketing Week spoke to five marketing leaders (all members of the 2024 Top 100) to hear their thoughts on the future of marketing leadership.

Becky Moffat, Chief Marketing Officer, HSBC UK

Marketers are increasingly becoming experts. This could pose problems for the next generation of marketing leaders, suggests Becky Moffat, chief marketing officer at HSBC UK, which is looking to widen its senior management ranks.

The need for close collaboration

“Marketing leadership is just that: leadership. But leadership is changing. With each passing year, it becomes broader, more dynamic, and more challenging. Increasingly, they need to be not only deeply connected to their customers, but also very commercially centered. The days of marketing departments and businesses are long gone, and their role now is to deliver better outcomes for both customers and commerce. It depends on how deeply we integrate and collaborate to create.

“Marketing leaders really need to be deep collaborators. Especially in a world where people are working on tight budgets, marketing leaders need to connect the dots between silos to bring things together and build on the bigger picture.” You need to be able to make an impact.

“Fundamentally, marketing leadership is about coming together, connecting the dots, and making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

“We talk a lot about T-shaped leadership. The challenge we face is that the most painful part is at the top of the T, where marketers have reached through their areas of expertise and are now trying to expand that area. There’s a challenge for marketers who come into relatively senior roles with deep expertise and then want to branch out. We need to think about how we solve that.”

Gary Booker, Chief Marketing, Innovation and Strategy Officer, Rentokil Initial

Gary Booker, head of marketing, innovation and strategy at Rentokil Initial, says while progress has been made in leveraging marketing communications and financial language with boards, the job is not done yet.

Take advantage of new skills

“Credibility at the boardroom table is very important and you need to make sure you are not speaking a different language than your senior colleagues. Despite all marketing efforts, It is still perceived by some as a bit of dark art. This is not new news, but we need to build on this.

“It’s more important than ever to demonstrate ROI in everything we do and everything we own. As marketing leaders, our job is to create corporate value and support our shareholders. It should be giving back. It should be commercially focused. Marketing leaders should always act with commercial motives, but they need to do more.

“Relationship building forms a key part of that and I think marketing leaders of the future need to speak the language of finance more clearly. There has been some progress, but it is important. HR relationships are also important. is.

“Marketing leaders now have all kinds of new technologies at their disposal, and digital transformation is never ending. There are so many skills that the next generation will need to have, such as how to do things.”

John Barnard, Global Marketing and Sales Leader, Malvern Panalytical

John Barnard, global marketing and sales leader at Malvern Panalytical, says many marketers have diminished interpersonal skills. But marketers need to get better at working with numbers to ensure the future of this function is positive, he argues.

Future-proof marketing leadership

“I often talk about marketing being like seducing strangers. When you’re in a room full of strangers, marketers want to be liked by those people. Marketing a Product The same is true when it comes to doing things. We want people to want and love our products. Therefore, on the human relations side of marketing, the skills of future marketing leaders will vary significantly. It is not.

“But on the data side, marketers need to be better with numbers. We’re becoming more of a business manager than just a marketing manager. The ability to interpret data is so important, so the ability to interpret data is also very important. Need to improve.

“Marketers of the future will have far more platforms than they do today, and leadership will be more important. We are becoming more scientific through data, predictions, and predictions, so we will have a seat at the top table. You will be able to obtain

“It would be great if more marketing professionals became future CEOs. As an industry, we need young leaders, marketing managers and marketing executives to develop these business skills in addition to traditional skills and put marketing on the CEO map.” It would be great if we could support them.

“Today’s CMOs and Marketing Directors must help future marketing leaders develop talent through mentorship. This will put us all in a better position as an industry.”

Teresa Parker, Head of Media, Brand and Relationships, Women’s Aid

Teresa Parker, head of media, brand and relationships at Women’s Aid, says marketers need time for professional development. This means that having access to spaces for marketers to connect with each other is key to nurturing the next generation.

Building a community

“From my perspective working in the charity sector, I think active marketing leadership is about having a clear vision for the brand that connects the values ​​of the organization with its future ambitions and goals. Within their focus, marketing leaders need to be able to be creative, and by providing a safe space to share ideas, they need to encourage their team members to feel confident and creative as well.

“Organizations are shaping the future of marketing leadership by creating senior marketing roles that work closely across teams and with other members of senior leadership, and by engaging and supporting marketing strategy at board level. Giving staff time for professional development and access to marketing networks during working hours can also make a big difference.

“We need more space, both in real life and online, for people to share good practice and support at different levels of their careers, especially those working in completely different marketing roles. We just need to learn from each other. But they often also have much in common in terms of challenges and aspirations for the future of work. A greater sense of community benefits everyone.”

Kertu Inkeroinen, Lucky Saint Marketing Director

Kerttu Inkeroinen, director of marketing and e-commerce at Lucky Saint, suggests that a culture of effectiveness is the key to longevity in marketing. This, coupled with an increased focus on commerciality and proving his ROI, should be a focus for future marketing leaders.

Prove marketing effectiveness

“There is an increasing focus on proving the impact of marketing and measuring it properly, and trying to find ways to do this in smaller businesses that don’t have all the data and research.

“As companies strive to reduce costs, it becomes increasingly important to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of marketing investments to boards and shareholders, and to have a commercial perspective. Educating the business on those metrics but also.

“There’s a lot of discussion going on about the CMO taking on the CEO role. I think we’re seeing a little more about that and there’s more discussion about that as well. , reflecting the marketing function becoming more savvy and commercial.

“We don’t talk enough about team-building skills in marketing leadership. How do we build agile teams? Or do we have a learning culture that stays on top of change? Learning Being able to continue and build strong teams that are resilient to change is part of any leadership role, but especially in marketing, as marketing becomes increasingly fragmented.”