Eight Ways to Improve CMO Success

When we think about the job of a chief marketing officer (CMO), many things come to mind.  But the one thing that seems to be critical is market communication.  In Eight Ways to Improve CMO Success, author Paul Williams provides some excellent insight into the selection and guidance of a CMO.  I'll take this a step further with a strategic IT recommendation; make sure the CMO [and her/his team] has the opportunity to leverage weblogs internally and externally.

There are many examples where marketing and weblogs are paying dividends.  There doesn't seem to be any specific market that benefits more than another does, although public relations seems to stand out as a major beneficiary.

In his post Law Firm marketing with weblogs, Ernest Svenson writes, "...we have assigned some young lawyers to cull news stories that might be of interest.  We show them how to use sites like Daily Whirl to scan for news ideas in the blogosphere.  Then they forward the post ideas to a central place (i.e. one person who sifts through the story ideas with an overview of which stories make the most sense and which ones will allow us to market a particular segment of the firm)."

Typically, marketing organizations use traditional IT tools like graphics editors, word processors, and email clients.  Databases and other tools for analyzing results and other market data are also necessary and common.  But it seems that one of the most important capabilities for future marketing professionals is a keen understanding of how the Blogosphere works, how content syndication can be used to create competitive advantage, and access to a blogsite platform that provides a wide array of enterprise features.