Online customers, digital marketing: The CMO-CIO connection

Abstract

Media consumers are rushing online in record numbers, and corporate marketers must go there too. Done right, online marketing holds the promise of higher profits and greater accountability, but it requires a sophisticated, strongly aligned blend of marketing savvy and technological expertise. CIOs and CMOs must work together to develop a marketing technology architecture that combines the ability to analyse consumer behaviour, help make marketing decisions, and automate customer interaction, content management and publishing processes. While some of this technology is already available, the solution market is in flux, and far-sighted caution is a must. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.