CMO Today

H&R Block CEO Jeff Jones sits down with marketing guru and author Jim Stengel to share insights and lessons learned along his career path from marketer to top business executive. In late 2017, Jones joined H&R Block—a brand with tremendous assets and possibilities, he says—with a mandate to transform the underperforming tax preparer and restore growth.

Being prepared to fend off seemingly ever-present online threats requires having the right cybersecurity staff in place. Today’s talent shortage is making that more challenging than ever, but companies in the consumer products industry can take a few strategic steps to possibly make things easier.

Technological developments will likely make it faster and easier to develop machine learning solutions this year while also removing some of the barriers that have restricted adoption in the past. Among the results could be greater investment and more intensive use within enterprises.

Today’s organizations—and their customers—are increasingly mindful of how corporate actions affect society. As stakeholder expectations rise, an inauthentic or inconsistent commitment to corporate citizenship can quickly damage a company’s reputation, undermine its sales, and limit its ability to attract talent. To avoid this outcome, CMOs can partner with other C-suite leaders to make social responsibility central to the organization’s strategy and identity.

Marketers have traditionally relied on market research tactics such as surveys and focus groups to learn what customers think, but these measures can have their shortcomings. To gain deeper, more accurate insights into customers’ motivations, marketers increasingly are using neuroscientific methods in a variety of settings.

In an era of digital change, CMOs can disrupt their own organizations to achieve remarkable results. Veteran marketing leader Jim Stengel addressed a group of rising marketing executives and shared five shifts successful CMOs will make in the areas of branding, customer experience, culture, technology, and execution.