How the Best Buy CMO aligned the company’s KPI’s with compensation — Mike Linton // Ancestry
- Part 1The Consumer / Marketplace Scorecard for CMO’s — Mike Linton // Ancestry
- Part 2 How the Best Buy CMO aligned the company’s KPI’s with compensation — Mike Linton // Ancestry
Show Notes
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01:53How to think differently about aligning the companys KPIs with specific compensationSince a company thinks through the lens of sales and profit, the CMO must approach marketing from a sales overnight brand over time approach. And you want the team thinking that way versus each meeting being in conflict across functions.
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03:43The role of alignment in getting people ready for the C suiteThe jump from the director level to the C-suite is hard because you need to manage multiple functions. But alignment helps you think about the company holistically rather than just your function.
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06:26How to prevent excellent team members from failing at new functionsBeing excellent at a function is great for early career success, but as team members seek to get higher, they need to be exposed to other functions early on and learn how stuff works before they are promoted.
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09:44The dangers of moving people along the marketing leadership ladder without preparationYou will crush some long-term softer things like brand building or PR. A multidisciplinary skill set and broad-based business thinking set you up for success.
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12:12Resources to get better at the craft of corporate brand marketingIt is not a well-trained function, but the people you work for and with matter a lot. You can find more content on CMO Confidential Podcast.
Quotes
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"The company looks through the lens of sales and profit. And they're giving you that money to drive sales and profit; they're not giving you that money to come in and say, well, we got a ton of traffic. Still, it didn't turn into sales, or we built the brand but missed the numbers this year, or we made the numbers this year, but we sacrificed all the investment in building a data lake or a loyalty program for next year, you have to be a steward of that money. And that, to me, is sales overnight brand over time." - Mike Linton
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"Sales overnight; brand over time. And you want the team thinking that way versus each meeting being in conflict across functions." - Mike Linton
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"Undoubtedly, you will succeed early in your career by being great at something, understanding how it works precisely, and managing it. I think as you get higher, if you don't get practiced, absorbing new functions, and then coordinating operations, you will tend to either lean on the function you know relentlessly or try and absorb every single function that works for you, like the function you've been training on for years." - Mike Linton
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"We actually can't win just by optimizing your function. And sometimes you can't win by optimizing each function because they don't coordinate well," - Mike Linton
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"Marketing is the least homogeneous function in the company. Your five HR people are essentially doing the same HR job, or finance is very similar. Marketing is very different. Let's say you come out of the PR brand, and suddenly you're in charge of CRM and search. Well, if you've never thought about it and you've never interfaced very much with it. We've never had to compromise with it; it will be tough to manage it." - Mike Linton
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"Suppose you have not practiced with some long-term things, PR or brand, or creative or true innovation, and you come straight out of measurement. In that case, it will be harder for you because you haven't thought about it. On the other side, when the brand people take over. And they don't want to get into math; that's bad because math always matters." - Mike Linton
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"Let's be clear: the universal language of business, regardless of country, industry, or anything, is financial. And if you can't speak financially, you can still succeed. But it's way easier to succeed if you can communicate financially. And speaking doesn't mean just talking about it; it means understanding it. And then, if you can write your marketing into the financial story, you have a lot more credibility." - Mike Linton
- Part 1The Consumer / Marketplace Scorecard for CMO’s — Mike Linton // Ancestry
- Part 2 How the Best Buy CMO aligned the company’s KPI’s with compensation — Mike Linton // Ancestry
Up Next:
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Part 1The Consumer / Marketplace Scorecard for CMO’s — Mike Linton // Ancestry
Marketing is the most scrutinized job. The company pays attention to every piece of marketing you do, and sadly, consumers do not. How do you show the company from the consumer perspective that your marketing efforts are working? How do you get everyone on the marketing team to see how their diverse functions contribute to the whole that consumers see? Listen to Mike Linton, Former CMO of Ancestry, discussing the consumer scorecard for CMOs to succeed.
Play Podcast -
Part 2How the Best Buy CMO aligned the company’s KPI’s with compensation — Mike Linton // Ancestry
Marketing is the least homogeneous function in the company. It is a multifunction role that requires experience and practice across functions. If you can write your marketing into the financial story, you have a lot more credibility. But how? Listen to Mike Linton, Former CMO of Ancestry, discussing how the Best Buy CMO aligned the company's KPIs with compensation.
