Kaustubh Patki
Head Marketing India - Micro Focus India

The evolving role of CMOs 
As the domino effect of the pandemic, the world around us has changed with major shifts in customer preferences, business goals, IT requirements, revenue distribution, and growth plans. Businesses have realized the importance of delivering superior customer experiences in driving growth and ensuring customer retention. The CMO stands as a bridge between business strategies and customer demands instrumental in defining the relationship with all stakeholders. As the market evolves, the role of a CMO continues to advance to keep the brand relevant and profitable. This accelerating pace creates the potential for new avenues for the business to be explored while shaping its brand and developing robust customer ties with newer streams of revenue.

Contribution towards strategic business discussions
The burgeoning number of channels, customer touchpoints, and products/solutions is irrevocably changing the way marketers communicate. With advancing technology and the vast amount of data available, marketers must take advantage of filtering their marketing efforts through insights and informed decisions. Real-time marketing is a key part of having a customer-centric approach which requires both technology and changes in business processes for the transformation. It helps arrive at optimal decisions at the right time for taking advantage of customer behaviour and stimulates cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. Today, customers are presented with a vast market of similar offerings and knowledge on the same, more than ever before. However, this brand dilemma can be used to the company’s advantage. Marketers can get customers’ inputs on their products against the other available brands in the market to create stronger experiences and engagement making the solution stand out.

Real-Time Marketing to Drive Sustainable Growth
With countrywide lockdown, omnichannel marketing became crucial for brands as customers moved from physical to virtual. In response to digital acceleration and growing demands of the B2B buyer, an omnichannel approach is the key in adopting a cross-channel and client-centric strategy. This provides an integrated and seamless client experience and enhances relationships with stakeholders across all channels and touchpoints.

With omnichannel marketing, social media has gained stronger impetus in the marketing strategy for lead/revenue generation. The present-day marketer creates an appeal to potential leads on the business’ online platforms, showcasing the services/product portfolio to add them to the sales funnel. Events are also being customized to cater to niche audiences for directing curated experiences and ensuring customer conversion. The information revolution today has truly changed the dialogue between customers, marketers, and the business, making it dynamic while pushing us to the next level of customer obsession.