With over eight years of experience, Kamakshi is responsible for designing and executing the growth and business strategy, along with special projects for Taggd in collaboration with the Executive Team.

Innumerable articles have been written in the last 18 months, talking about the changes Covid-19 has brought into businesses and the way they operate. Buyer behaviours have transformed significantly, which has caused organizations to relook at their priorities and in many a case their business models. This has mandated key shifts in the Marketing function be it the priorities, teams or the businesses expectations. In a recent report by Forrester Research, 37 percent of the Marketing Leaders across the globe saw their function as the primary owners of the customer experience in their business area. And about 56 percent of marketing leaders chose CX as their top-most priority area.

While customer obsession is not a new expectation from any business function, what changes in a marketers' life is that now the coverage and ownership goes way beyond just attracting customers. CEOs today are looking for their marketing functions to provide programs that meet their needs at every touch point.

And as the Chiefs of Marketing ready their plans to meet this business need, they would require some exceptional capabilities in their sergeant in arms. Interestingly, these capabilities which might have remained understated in the glitzy and glamorous world of preCovid marketing, today they do make lot of sense. Here are the top three must lookouts for capabilities that every CMO would go after,

1.Understanding of Business & Customers:
With the kind of focus that has been put on the customer and their experience across the value chain, this is an obvious requirement in any marketer. It is imperative that they not only understand the complex needs and motivations of the customers but at the same time demonstrate deeper knowledge of their challenges & develop ways to cater to these challenges in an empathetic way. In addition to this, as the pressures to improve productivity and generate more ROI get pushed down to the marketing teams, the understanding of business comes a long way. So, if you are a marketer looking out to make a difference, don't restrict your

learnings to the so called ‘technical' marketing skills. Go beyond to understand your customers and the revenue model that your organization follows.

2.Ability to Aggregate & Align:With great power comes great responsibility. And this could not be truer for the marketing team that today is expected to be owners of customer experience without having the span of control for the delivery of it. In such a scenario, ability to aggregate as well as align teams and people of different functions is the difference to create something out of box. And it's just not me saying it. When over 500 B2B senior marketers across industries were asked to list down their top imperatives, improving marketing alignment and collaboration with other departments was on the top of the list. Ensuring results without having any control over the resources is the truest definition of an entre preneurial mindset and CEOs expect their marketers to demonstrate that ability.

If You Are A Marketer Looking-Out To Make A Difference, Don't Restrict Your Learnings To The So Called ‘Technical' Marketing Skills

3.Right Data at Right Time to Right People:
Marketing and the ROIs initiatives generate the ability to bring fireworks in any board room discussion. And the last one year has increased the pressure on marketers to show the return on any investment being made. So while one in every two of the marketing leaders forecast an increase in their marketing budget this year. So, increasing the effectiveness of marketing efforts is the top most priority in the marketing agenda. This includes impact on revenue engine, brand performance as well as operating effectiveness. And to make that happen, a clear, transparent, and persuasive view of value created by marketing is needed. Stake holders are often unclear about how marketing creates value because they do not understand how individual marketing activities connect to broader business objectives. And it is on to the marketing leaders in any organizations to establish and connect with strategic objectives of business along with causality of the actions being taken. The right time to access the right data to the right people is an art (and science) that marketing teams need to own.

This is not to say that the tactical know how needed for marketing initiatives is no longer relevant, perhaps it is. But there are reasons to believe that these skills might not be enough, if you are looking for a high growth career. A study done by Gartner, mentions Financial/Business Acumen and Digital Know How as the most critical skills marketers need to succeed faster. Well, the writing is on the wall, exceptional customer experiences, and outcome driven initiatives are what businesses expect from their marketers. Hence, I am sure the smart marketers will not take time to meet these expectations.