Puneet Chadha
CMO, Redington India

The evolving role of CMOs 
Businesses today have become more customer-centric with CMOs focusing on various factors that can improve the overall customer experience as well as engagement.  They are becoming the drivers of customer experience and customer-centricity, the scope of which can be broad and extended beyond the usual realm of a marketing firm.
Customer experience is a key differentiating factor for every successful brand in any industry, and hence, it sits at the core of every marketing strategy. Improving customer experience can help brands across categories including financial services, healthcare, retail, auto, media, telecom, and travel unlock $200 billion of value which they may have been leaving behind.Redington applies innovation and technology to address barriers and elevates the experience and efficacy of brands and channel partners in their endeavour to address their customer requirements in a seamless, simplified and secure way. CMOs should have a deep understanding of the customer’s mind-set, behaviour and the ecosystem, in order to achieve customer-centricity which is aligned with the larger goals of the brand.They need to comprehend the intricacies and influence of the brand, as well as develop technological capabilities, cultural nuances and practices to improve the quality of the customer experience and engagement. They need to adapt, collaborate, measure and optimize their marketing strategies based on the response from the SMBs, so that they can achieve the desired outcome and impact, in the best interest of the brand.

Contribution towards strategic business discussions
The role of CMOs has gone through multiple paradigm shifts in the past decade, and today they are responsible for various aspects of the customer experience, which includes technology, customer data and analytics, existing account growth and the impact on the bottom line.They are today important contributors to the overall business strategy and have a strong peer reputation. The CMOs have transformed as leaders and decision makers, and they are responsible for aligning their marketing strategies and goals, with the company’s business and growth objectives. Their role covers the key responsibilities for customer experience, product strategy, innovation, communications and all the traditional marketing functions.

Real-Time Marketing to Drive Sustainable Growth
In Real-time marketing, brands create and drive real-time interactions and engagements, to increase relevancy by providing content and communication, which aligns with the context of what is going on in the lives of their SMBs. It can help to collect customer data, guide the customer journey, proactively engage SMBs, support customized content, and enhance the overall experience. Data-driven marketers can implement effective real-time marketing initiatives and achieve high value, leading to better business outcomes and growth. Hence, for the new age CMOs, it is imperative to have a clear marketing strategy with a structured and streamlined, data-collection process, using which they can transform the customer journey with real-time engagement.