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Marketers still talking brand, while bosses are thinking sales

Old Navy. Taco Bell. Miller Lite. Just to name a few.

There's a long list of marketing executives at major brands who have been canned in the last few months. 

In fact, according to Ad Age Magazine, few CMOs hold their jobs for more than three years; they get fired 25% quicker than chief information officers and nearly twice as often as every other C-suiter.

Why?

While marketers are still talking about brands, their bosses and clients are thinking about sales.

As I've posted here before, the game has changed: marketing professionals -- at both large companies and small -- must begin to take responsibility for their company's bottom-line sales results.

The purpose of brand awareness is lead generation. And your boss expects a reasonable percentage of those leads to convert to sales. So don't be surprised if you're asked to quantify the sales revenue results of your next marketing campaign. You're accountable.

Welcome to the new economy: we're all sales producers now.

To share your thoughts, email david@fieldstonehill.com.

 

Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 7:39AM by Registered Commenter[Your Name Here] | CommentsPost a Comment

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