It’s NBA finals time, and for the fourth year in a row, my Miami Heat are playing for the championship. While the big three (James, Wade, and Bosh) are extremely talented, it takes more than just the talent of these superstars to deliver the third championship in a row. To cement the Heat’s legacy and put the team in the position to claim another title as the best ever, the Heat has surrounded the big three with the right roles, staffed with the right role players. These role players on the Miami Heat know what’s expected of them and recognize the vital part they play in the Heat’s success. It’s Ray Allen hitting a 3 when he’s called upon or Birdman blocking a critical shot to keep Miami’s lead. Each member of the Miami Heat understands that while the big-three superstars may ultimately make the difference, it’s really the way the entire system works together that propels the team to victory time and time again.

And while this may surprise you, for your marketing team, it’s no different. Without a doubt, you have your superstars that go the extra mile to rev up your marketing engine. But do you have the right role players to help your marketing operating system work well as a unit? Do they know what’s expected of them? Do you know what role players you need and what to look for when you hire them?

Answering these questions and more are where my new report, “The New Roles That Will Power Your Marketing Operating System” (subscription required), can help. While a marketing operating system (MOS) provides the structure for marketing teams to prosper in the age of the customer, it also requires new roles at both the leadership and the facilitator levels to make the organization function at its best. My new report provides a framework CMOs can use to tune their marketing organization for customer obsession because:

  • New roles are needed to power a MOS-based organization. CMOs will execute strategy faster, with more flexibility and adaptability, by adding five new marketing roles — customer segment owners, marketing technologists, content chief, process managers, and operations managers — to their team. Each one helps fill a void that exists in traditional organization structures.
  • Customer segment owners will lead the customer engagement charge. Appoint customer segment owners whose job is to match customers’ needs to your products, services, and go-to-market tactics. These segment owners will prioritize contextually relevant customer experiences ahead of marketing channel optimization.
  • Your MOS-based organization needs a strong marketing technology partner to thrive. Proactively embrace and wield technology and associated processes as a native capability in your strategy and tactics to fuel your MOS. Unite the leadership of processes, technical capabilities, and digital platforms under a single umbrella — a marketing technology office (MTO). The MTO will bridge marketing needs and internal technology management capabilities.

Transform your marketing organizational design from product- or channel-centric models to a structure crafted to best serve the customer in the post-digital age by realigning your team in the context of a MOS. A MOS creates a fluid design with more collaboration across silos to execute strategy faster, with more flexibility and adaptability, nimbly moving your organization toward winning, serving, and retaining customers. Staff your MOS with the right new roles, and you’ll be on your way.

Have you tuned your marketing organization to be customer-obsessed? How are you adapting your organization to customers’ changing behavior? What is your plan to succeed in the age of the customer?

I’d love to hear your comments and perspectives about this topic. Please reach out to me via email, on my blog, or on my Twitter account with your thoughts, or request an inquiry with me here.