The CMO's blueprint for building a world-class marketing team

It is our pleasure to introduce you to another of our Guest Thinkers, marketing experts whom we have invited to express their own independent views on issues of interest to marketing readers. The opinions given are opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of a given organization. Jim Lecinski, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, is once more a Guest Thinker and the author of The AI Marketing Canvas. He has written before on:

• how to recycle your yearly marketing plan
• the agile approach to marketing
• the way marketers may use the 3 A's to implement AI
• the way to get the best out of marketing conferences with the aid of AI This is where he gives advice on the way of developing a world-class team by marketing leaders. I have been interacting closely with premier CMOs to determine how they develop, train and maintain their great marketing teams. What I have learned is that there is an evident trend - a calculated strategy that lines the finest teams. I am thrilled to reveal to you that blueprint, namely, how to recruit, develop and keep the best employees who can make an organization an actual world-class in marketing.

Hire based on flexibility and not experience

The traditional method of hiring is to recruit those applicants who have a relevant work history and experience of some type. Of course, marketing skills and technical prowess are important, but in the current dynamic world, flexibility and interest are of greater importance. CMO of Red Wing Shoe Co., Dave Schneider, has described it this way: we seek curious marketers. Seeking to understand is one of the most crucial attributes that a marketer should have. It could be the performance of the business, consumer behavior, or an emerging technology, the most effective marketers are humble and would want to know and ask themselves, why? Ask the candidates during interviews to explain a moment when they were able to pivot successfully in their position or learn a new technology and make a difference. Emphasize on doers with potential in the future and not just experience and a fixed list of skills which will become obsolete in several years. When I discussed this with Carolyn Dawkins, CMO, David Yurman, she replied that she seeks talent who possess strategy developed through leadership in various experiences or projects, and have a high level of curiosity and desire to learn, which is future-proof decision-making.

Find a variety of skill sets, not only variety of resumes

Diversity does not only entail variety of backgrounds. You must create a mosaic of various experiences and skill sets, both left brained and right brained, that will be able to add variety to your marketing team. According to Schneider, we seek people not afraid to be themselves. The most successful organizations are the ones that tolerate, welcome, and encourage diversity of thought, experience, and opinion, which provides a culture of inclusivity providing each to perform to the highest standards. That can be by either recruiting personnel in a completely new industry or bringing on board talent with both creative instinct and data-driven marketing knowledge, which will be important in integrating human creativity with data insights in an AI-enabled world. In general, a product development specialist can give you a new angle to your marketing issues, and a candidate who has knowledge of coding can create an insight into AI algorithms that could be used to improve brand narrative. They will make a team together where analytical, technical and creative skills will come into conflict in order to address complex marketing issues.

AI can assist in identifying skills gaps in the team

Speaking of AI, it can also assist in hiring well. Apply AI to carry out skills gap analysis of your existing team. You can post publicly available profiles of your existing team members and ask AI to generate a combined list of the team skills that will then provide increasing suggestions to you on what skills you may lack or what skills are the most required. One can not do skills gap analysis without a clear statement of what value marketing is producing on behalf of the business. First harmonize with the top management on the responsibilities of marketing. Next, get AI to assist in identifying where there should be more marketing expertise. It is necessary to hire talent to deal with tomorrow challenges rather than only today challenges.

Upskill to be adaptable and impactful

When you have made your marketing team, the next thing you want to do is to make them grow and develop them. The main secret behind creating a world-class marketing team is the creation of a culture of continuous learning. Talent, as Dawkins goes on to say, should possess a great sense of curiosity and desire to know more, not of your competitors or the category but of the new technology, the macro changes that can impact your brand. It is your task to discover how you can make your team broaden their marketing knowledge on a daily basis. One of the ways that Schneider develops a learning culture at Red Wing is through Insights and Inspiration sessions. Approximately every week, the group has a meeting to discuss such topics as:

• AI
• creative effectiveness
• consumer experience using outside speakers
• thought-provoking events
• team-building activities Such commitment to collective learning ensures that the whole group stays ahead of the trends in the consumer industry and they are more flexible, and they are also prepared to make a shift when the need arises. Attempt to form alliances with professionals or agencies who are more developed in certain spheres. According to Dawkins, David Yurman has such partners to disrupt the status quo and develop the expertise of the team. It is this sort of external exposure which may just enhance the growth and innovativeness of your team. First AI is best suited to environments where there is a provision of integrated, cross-functional insight. So do marketing teams. Train your employees on different fields such as content creation, data analytics, or brand strategy and you will not only break down silos but also accumulate innovation. This would prepare them with a more comprehensive sense of the overall marketing system and enable your staff to make the most out of AI tools. According to Schneider, Marketing leaders should give the chance and the necessity of continuous learning that will give an opportunity to the team to become more professional, and to come up with a more efficient marketing strategy. Cross-functional collaboration and training does not only enhance faster learning, it also enables your marketers to see the whole business picture of what they are doing.

Cultivate an innovation culture

Money alone, but employees remain where they feel appreciated, listened to, and encouraged to innovate. Dawkins motivates her staff at David Yurman through the use of real time sharing and admonishing presentation of work beyond their direct categories. Encourage your citizens to trial and error, especially using AI and other upcoming technologies, and allow them the space to err, learn and get better. You will develop a culture of growth, retention of talent, and keeping employees energized - and willing to remain with you.

Career advancement in design

Designers are finding it difficult to leave their positions since they are not getting career advancement. Bring in inflexibility in combat by offering specific career growth opportunities that are in tandem with future of marketing. At Red Wing, Schneider develops learning themes and special sessions in which team members get to communicate their learning outcomes to peers, and personal development becomes a societal process. I have conducted numerous of such developmental processes, assisting marketing teams in getting to know about AI. Employees that continue to develop in this manner and get the privilege to head new programs will feel a sense of ownership and pride in their input. Create means through which your marketers can become AI champions, whether by certifying them or by giving them internal positions that involve training their colleagues. In case you wish them to hang around, provide them with opportunities to get into the water, and not merely AI competent but highly AI proficient. This does not only motivate skill in your organization but also encourages your best talent to feel that they are able to spearhead the marketing future of your company, now and many years ahead.

Allow AI to assist with work-life balance

Work-life balance and flexibility remain among the major concerns to retain talent, and now technology can contribute to it in a more unexpected manner. Automate routine processes that could have slowed down or stalled the team in the past, like data collection, analysis, and reporting, with AI. AI is capable of doing it, and it opens the chance to concentrate on strategic and creative activities. The morale of employees increases when they realize that they can utilize technology to become more productive rather than being overwhelmed and focus on what is actually important, which is doing great work that moves the needle.

To create a great marketing organization that can succeed in the current dynamic environment, redefine the process of hiring, training and retaining talent. You should approach it as a CMO by building a globally renowned, versatile marketing organization that is flexible, spends time learning and is inexhaustibly interested. Jim Lecinski is a marketing professor (clinical) at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, 2022 Professor of the Year. Jim is a trusted marketing professional who has been in the marketing field more than 30 years, teaching well-known MBA marketing strategy, omnichannel marketing, and AI in marketing. His most successful book based on the title is Winning the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), which has been read by more than 300,000 marketers around the globe. The most recent work is his book The AI Marketing Canvas, published by Stanford University Press.