Gartner is predicting that by 2015, 25% of organizations will have a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and further estimated that 20% of existing chief information officers (CIOs) have already taken on some of the responsibilities of the CDO.

So what does a CDO do?

The role of the CDO in the enterprise has gotten a great deal of attention in recent months. Perhaps because of the impact and influence that the CDO had in the Obama campaign last fall. All the tools of the trade – text analytics, social media analysis, Website personalization, community analytics, computational advertising and online testing, among other things – were used for re-elect the President of the United States.

In this new Age of the Customer (credit to Forrester for naming this one), how well a company uses the readily available information about their customer will determine how successful they are in the marketplace. Which is no small feat since most companies are not “born digital” there is a lot of work to do to get all the people, process and technology to line up.

Adapting to the Age of the Customer requires a new skill set that existing leadership teams don’t necessarily possess. At many modern companies, it’s hard to find anything that is not related to technology in some way.

Moreover, marketing has become so deeply entwined with technology. But this didn’t happen to us overnight; it’s been sneaking up on us for a while. But because technology had been so tangential to marketing management for most of our history, the organizational structure of marketing has been slow to adjust to this new technology-centric reality. But we’ve clearly reached a tipping point. To fully reap the benefits marketing must officially take ownership of its technology platforms and strategies.

I also like to think the traditional path that the CMO has taken to get into the C Suite is changing. Typically the modern day CMO takes Marketing 101 in college, gets a Masters in Marketing, works for a major brand like P&G as an entry level marketer, becomes a brand manager then rises up to eventually become the CMO. Well today’s marketers are growing up digital – they create aps, they place Facebook ads, they run some mobile ads and design augmented reality games – all before lunch! Its no wonder why the idea of a CDO has emerged – because it didn’t make sense for many organizations five years ago, it’s hard to imagine that major companies won’t be operating without one in the very near future.

So how are you preparing for this new reality? 

In this new era, business models cannot be limited to what legacy IT is able to support. Instead, all business systems, including monetization platforms, must adapt to deliver the experiences customers want.

Like it or not, what Andrew McAfee predicted in 2006 in his book, Enterprise 2.0, is here, it’s happening and whether we call it “enterprise social,” or “social business” or just the biggest communications revolution since the printing press, it’s changing the way we do business in a fundamental fashion.

So I suggest the best way to prepare for this is to join me in attending the The Social-Shake-Up Conference. This is not your ordinary conference about social media. Nor is it a conference about advertising or marketing technologies. It’s meant to prepare you for changes that are occurring and give you what you need to succeed in this new era. The conference is a jam-packed two-and-a-half days from September 15-17 in Atlanta with 5 tracks ranging from Big Data, Mobile, Social Organization, Customer and Community as well as Content. I hope to see you there!

Business and consumer brands have traditionally approached marketing from two totally different vantage points. And it’s obvious why: buying cycles are longer, buyer mentalities are different, and products typically require more investigation before a purchase. But the reality is that B2B buyers are very similar to B2C consumers— whether it’s buying a new car or new enterprise software, consumers want to be educated and informed. They want to feel as though you understand them and their problems. And they certainly don’t want to be bored to death with encyclopedic catalogue-type information.

While there are always going to be distinct differences between b2b and b2c marketing practices, B2B websites must make some B2C-inspired adjustments to keep up with savvy consumers. Sites must be more visual, more concise and more consumable, taking the following into account:

1)     Design your site for the consumer, not the company

Just because you aren’t a retailer doesn’t mean your site has to follow a typical design pattern that most B2B sites are known to follow. You know it well: a dedicated area for a rotating hero graphic; some space touting your news and events, and maybe a few awards; and, of course, customer logos prominently displayed on the site. 

But take a look around at leading e-commerce brands and you’ll find a necessary constant: they design the site with the buyer in mind. When you hit the homepage, you know exactly what products they are offering, which promotions they are running, and you are comfortable navigating or searching the site. Their hero imagery is used strategically, the calls-to-action are prominent, and simple, actionable navigation jump-starts the shopping process. B2B companies often fall prey to the internal design and jargon trap, but it’s easy to get your value proposition across without content overload that creates a confusing experience.

2)     Start testing, seriously

B2B marketers spend copious amounts of money driving traffic to their website, but spend next to nothing on converting said traffic. I can’t help but think we are leaving leads—and money—on the table as B2B marketers.

The rapid increase in adoption of A/B and multivariate testing by B2C companies has fundamentally shifted the way websites are designed (and updated) forever. Today’s leading B2C companies are not only employing testing technologies to improve customer experiences and conversion rates, they also are making this a must-have practice for their site. Just as you wouldn’t dream of neglecting SEO, playing guessing games with your site content is no longer acceptable.

While your website may not be performing B2C-like monetary transactions, a B2B site is still an important touch point in the sales and marketing funnel. Specific elements, such as calls-to-action, landing page layouts, homepage design and forms, are high on B2C marketers’ list of optimization priorities—and yet, they are very much a part of a B2B site. The bottom line is, any small change, addition or update to your site can negatively or positively impact conversions, but if you aren’t testing, you will never know.

3)     Treat your content like a category

If you think about a typical B2B tech company, it likely has a product or service to offer, or even a blend of both. Either way, the company’s aim is to educate the prospect to drive a sale. Like many B2C sites, your products and services pages are a category. Your case studies, white papers, e-books, articles and events are a category. Any area that helps inform a decision and convert a visitor (i.e., form fill out, contact us action) should be optimized accordingly.

Your content pages are crucial to making this educational process frustration free, while giving visitors an array of choices to explore and engage with. For example, quick “pop-outs” when visitors mouse over a white paper that give more detail without having to click onto a landing page can be a great way to provide that information. “Light-boxing” a video player applies the same technique, while keeping the focus on the sole content. Large images to support product copy and listings will focus visitors’ attention.

4)     Employ deeper search and sort capabilities

For B2C companies, search is a must-have that, when optimized accordingly, has been proven to lead to higher conversion rates and sales. There is no exception for B2B.

Search functionality enables visitors to easily locate your product(s) and/or service(s) based on certain parameters— leading them down the path to become educated on exactly what they are looking for, as well as get enough questions answered to want to learn more and make contact. Additionally, any user who is engaging with search on your site probably knows a bit more about you—so offering that user more sophisticated searches can help speed up the process. With sort and filter functionality, you allow users to dive deeper into your products and resources, understand their choices and know that you have what they want!

5)     Allow product reviews

It’s time to take those typical “customer quotes” you splashed across your homepage to a new level. B2C companies have cited that allowing for product ratings and reviews from previous buyers can help sway uncertain customers or reassure them that they are buying into something great. If you’re already asking a customer to write a case study with you, or endorse you in a press release, consider asking for a product review in similar B2C fashion—and displaying it accordingly on your site.

When it comes to display, stars or numbered rankings, offer an immediate signal that others have bought, used and rated a particular product. Now, those customer logos you have on your “Clients” page have suddenly come to life. And they encourage visitors to look to longer, text-driven reviews for more product information and insights. Connect this to a form or “Request a Demo” link, and you’re not only getting product endorsements but improving lead gen too.

The reality is that today’s B2B online customer experiences are falling short to the far-superior B2C buying experience. B2B sites that don’t aim to play catch-up sooner rather than later will risk losing business, and budget. Your website is often one of the first touches a prospect makes, so don’t waste the opportunity to capture—and convert them—for a deeper conversation.

This is the era of Social Media.  With over a billion consumers offering opinions, sentiments, and insights online, Social Media has in a few short years eclipsed many traditional forms of expression in terms of volume and importance.  As a result, the professional world is abuzz with discussion of this new form of communication and interaction, concentrating on its positive, even revolutionary aspects.  However, there is still a lot of discussion by an alarmingly large group of pundits that Social Media lacks clear ROI.  In my view since Social Media generates ROI more directly and with higher velocity than other forms of marketing.  It’s the era of Social Media for a reason!

Media planning and buying is an area in which we see this Social Media-led advantage in bold-relief.  In the traditional model, advertisers and media buyers make and execute buying decisions and then wait for the results to come in.  It’s often hit or miss and mid-course correction is impossible.  Nuanced feedback is virtually non-existent and when insights are generated they are delivered after-the-fact.  Billions of dollars and thousands of people-hours are expended with little result to show.  Of course, there are effective media buys but they are rarely driven purely by empirical or predictive data.  While hits occur, the ratio of hits to misses is sub-optimal, a bitter pill to swallow in turbulent economic times.

Not so when media planning and buying is informed by Social Media.  When it is, you benefit from immediate ROI and take the guess-work out of your decision-making.  This is true for three core reasons:

• Social Media provides real-time and contextual data
• This real-time data, when deciphered and interpreted, allows you to make data-driven decisions
• Social Media is underpinned by technology which allows for speed; meaning you can measure and react with no delay

When these are combined with a team that is ready to hone and adapt quickly, media planning and buying can be taken to the next level.

A few examples are in order here.

Leveraging the social nature of TV

In the traditional model, a media buyer contracts to purchase spots based on imperfect knowledge of audience attitudes.  The spots run and the buyer gets feedback three months later, well outside the window of possible action.  With social media, you get feedback instantaneously whether on content, messaging or the theme of your ad; you learn what is resonating with the audience of a given TV program minutes after it airs!  With that insight you can make changes on the fly and either avert disaster or further enhance an already-popular campaign. An engaged TV audience with spot on messaging gets more happy consumers, and is a profitable win-win that pays for itself quickly.

Optimizing media choices

In the traditional model, smaller companies with new and disruptive products and services are often locked-out of media buys because they lack the incumbents’ financial muscle.  With information and insights derived from Social Media, these companies can find alternate and more effective channels to disseminate their messages in real-time and with high-fidelity to audience attitudes and behavior.  Social media democratizes the playing field for small and medium companies for whom attention and exposure is priceless, and again generating an immediate ROI.

Perfecting product placement

In the traditional model, a media buyer spends valuable dollars to place an advertiser’s product in a media outlet.  The decision about which outlet is made often with a gut decision based on limited information and the resulting uptake, or lack thereof, cannot be measured with precision.  It’s a shot in the dark, which not only costs dearly but forecloses on other opportunities.  With socially-informed buying, a buyer can test the potential reception of products in real-time and make data-driven decisions accordingly.  This process leads to finding the most relevant audience and most relevant outlet, driving immediate ROI and allowing an advertiser to avail the best opportunity available.

In today’s world of media and marketing in general, ROI is not a luxury it’s a must.  By informing your decision process and actions with the data from Social Media, you can guarantee the most you’re your marketing spend and in do so immediately generate what we call an IROI.