CIO's Are The New Brand Leaders

There is a growing school of thought that if you don't have the IT brains of the organization at the brand table then you are falling behind. The growing importance of digital marketing and e-commerce to the success of a complete 360 brand experience is no longer in question in my mind. If your transaction engine does not exude the brand persona of the online and offline marketing communication programs then your corporate brand strategy will fall apart. More and more transactions are occurring on the websites of organizations and these transaction engines and online catalogues are branding touch points that are most often the domain of the CIO not the CMO.

So, the link I have included to second survey by McKinsey on the role of IT in the corporate world tells us, the new normal is the CEO and CIO getting together from the start on key strategic issues. I go one further and say the CIO needs to be part of the entire brand discussion with today's CMO's.

Click on the link to see the survey.

 https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Business_Technology/BT_Strategy/IT_in_the_new_normal_McKinsey_Global_Survey_results_2473

The New Normal in Strategic Thinking

The term "new normal" started to appear a few years back before the global economic troubles but it has picked up real energy in the past year as many realise that business and organizations will probably never work like they did before the economic meltdown.

I have enclosed a good conversation on the topic that McKinsey recently had with some Chief Strategic Officers from Visa, Boeing and Estee Lauder. What is key to me is the planning cycle mentality moving from annual to quarterly to ongoing, and the flexibility required within organizations to deliver on this new reality and ensure alignment inside the organization can keep up with this new faster pace of planning.

Enjoy the 7 minute video below or click on the link.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/Navigating_the_new_normal_A_conversation_with_four_chief_strategy_officers_2476

How Web Marketing Can Kill A Relationship

A few weeks back I had my Korean car dealership contact me on the phone and say they were just updating their files and wondered if they could have my email address in case they rarely needed to let me know about recalls and other very important information about our vehicle. On the belief it would not be abused I gave them the details.

Well they blew it. The next day I got two emails about their great service and how they can sell me a new car. I was getting emails almost daily to the point I finally opted out of the mails. I am not interested in a new car, and I am now sure not interested in one from them.

The point is I liked these guys until they abused my relationship with them. So be careful of how often you engage your clients on-line especially if you told them you would not abuse their trust. Be smart and respectful of your relationships with your customers and don't kill a relationship by over marketing to it.