Grant Johnson

Part one of a multi-part blog series in which Pegasystems CMO Grant Johnson sits down with other CMOs and Industry experts to talk about burning issues that are top of mind for B2B and B2C marketers. The CMO role is rapidly transforming, in large part due to the rapid pace that social, mobile, cloud and big data mega trends are becoming pervasive and changing the very nature of business. In this first installment, I spoke with three CMO thought leaders to better understand the most significant aspects of the new CMO role and what it takes to succeed in an increasingly digital world:  David Cooperstein, VP, CMO Practice Director, Forrester Research; John Ellett, CEO of nFusion and author of The CMO Manifesto; and John Neeson, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Sirius Decisions. It became clear during the course of several dynamic conversations I’ve had recently that s... (more)

The Evolving Role of the CMO – Part II

This post can also be seen on 1to1 Media. Part two of an ongoing series in which Pegasystems CMO Grant Johnson sits down with other CMOs and Industry experts to talk about burning issues that are top of mind for B2B and B2C marketers. In the first part of this series published on February 8 I covered three of six key elements that define the new CMO. In this second part, I delve into the other three: achieving alignment, becoming a business partner, and being customer driven. As before, I include insights from three CMO thought leaders on what it takes to succeed in an increasing... (more)

Marketing Your Way Out of The Recession

It's anyone's guess when the recession bottoms out and we get back to growth.  Rather than remain in a "state" of denial - like California did for too long - or adopt a hunker down mentality - "let's just ride this one out" - as many companies have, there's a middle path of taking proactive measures steps now, so that when growth reappears, your company is better positioned to gain an unfair share of the increased customer demand that will be there to harvest.  Here are a few considerations to come out will your guns ablazing. Get back to basics.  One of my colleagues recently s... (more)

Is Your Brand Architecture a Foundation or a Façade?

If you haven't revisited your brand architecture in more than a year, it's likely what you're building is a façade, rather than reinforcing a foundation.  Because technology and innovation are inextricably linked, tech companies are continuously introducing new products and services, and in most cases, adding brands and sub-brands into their product portfolios.  Over time, even a sound architecture can begin to crumble under the strain of too many overlapping brand layers. It's not as if tech marketers are trying to create brand disorder and chaos, it's just that  inattention to... (more)

Sales & Marketing: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Over the past 15 years waging war in the technology marketplace, I’ve come to appreciate that the first battle for marketing is often the one fought inside a company between sales and marketing.  Let’s face it, the two functions are often at odds due to the he fundamental schism of one function primarily rewarded for delivering near term results, i.e. get sales this quarter, and the other function primarily rewarded for creating competitive advantage and building brand preference. It’s no wonder there’s a lot of finger pointing in the hallways and conference rooms across America... (more)