• Ad Age, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 10:43 AM

Next-generation CMOs must help their organizations to truly understand their customers and act as the customer advocate within the organization, writes Dave Frankland, a principal analyst at Forrester. He says that marketers have to get consumer data out of the hands of the "propeller-heads" in the direct marketing department and into the "strategic command center for the business" where it can drive decisions across the enterprise.

Forrester finds, however, that fewer than 15% of firms have a strategic customer-intelligence operation. The ones that do transform customer data into actionable intelligence see a lot of benefits as a result, "including improvements in customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction to increased revenue, profitability and customer lifetime value."

How to get there? Walk the talk. Everybody says they're focused on consumers but few companies truly are. Change the corporate culture. Be like Disney, where information-driven marketing practices grow out of a corporate culture designed around the mantra "know me and be relevant."

Read the whole story at Ad Age »