Commentary

The Next Big Innovation In Marketing Is Already On Your Team

If you're an email marketing manager, you have to learn to sell yourself to the CMO.  Here's some ammunition.

Conversely, if you're a CMO or other marketing exec, keep reading for ways to leverage a phenomenal resource that you’re likely underutilizing: the email marketing manager. 

Here are three skills email marketers have that CMOs can leverage today for strategic-level marketing planning: 

1. They know your customer really well. Email marketers have long been the gatekeeper and primary users of first-party data. They know exactly which customers have acted on recent messages, what they purchased last, etc. Even more valuable, they know how to react with appropriate messaging based on those behaviors. They also are very creative in thinking about the customer lifecycle journey, pinpointing when a customer needs to hear from you. They have tested what works and can automate that full journey end to end.

2. They understand where integrations need to take place and how to make all technologies work together.  Making automations and triggers work requires real-time and batch-automated data feeds.  I often say that if email is a car, then data is the fuel.  You need data to make email function. There’s no better person on your marketing team who knows what systems need to be integrated than the email marketer.  Not only are they feeding data to power multi-channel communications, they understand the importance of bringing back data into the enterprise to get a full 360-degree view of your customers.

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3. They converge analytical thought process with creativity to create top-notch customer experiences. Email marketers are required to think with both sides of the brain to have a successful career.  On the logical side, they’re experts in setting up a clean A/B or multivariate test and pulling the data needed to drive campaigns. As creative thinkers, they know what designs work and often have to educate creative teams (specifically those that have never designed for email) on how to produce an elegant email while keeping the design simple and clean for an optimal mobile experience.  They’re experts on writing grabby subject lines, headlines, content and creating visual hierarchy to make communications appealing to recipients.

And that's just the beginning.

There are many other reasons that the email marketing manager is a valuable resource.  They understand branding, process, resource management, IT speak, omnichannel marketing -- specifically SMS, push notifications, display retargeting, social retargeting and even alternative channels such as connected devices like wearables and in-dash car screens.  

Many companies are looking for digital cognoscenti to bring sophistication to marketing.  Go ahead and revise the email marketing manager’s job description and grab the in-house opportunity.

2 comments about "The Next Big Innovation In Marketing Is Already On Your Team".
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  1. Kate McNaboe from RevTrax, February 26, 2015 at 3:12 p.m.

    Yay for email marketing managers!

  2. Zo Zhou from Traction Digital, March 1, 2015 at 6:51 p.m.

    Great post on the oft-unrealised broader marketing & business value of email!

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