Recently, it seems as though every time I turn around, there’s another new catch phrase or technology demanding to be seen as the centerpiece of marketing: mobile marketing, social media, customer experience, customer satisfaction as strategy, lead nuturing, QRCs, etc.

Corporations and marketers are diving head first into the technologies and trends as if they solve all marketing problems. And, of course, no one wants to be left behind.

Here’s the problem: As the mechanisms and technologies multiply, so do the corporate bureaucracies. There are social media managers, mobile marketing managers, customer experience managers, and on and on. All this, of course, is on top of the traditional product managers, corporate communications managers, Web masters, etc.

It is quickly reaching the point that all these managers are developing tactics that quite often overwhelm the organization’s marketing strategy. Each part of the bureaucracy sets out a “strategy” – mobile, social, etc. But, in fact, to be successful as an organization, each of these “strategies” should be considered tactics used to achieve the corporate goals.

Bureaucracies exist to be self-sustaining and expansionist. Turf wars develop. Chinese walls are erected to protect areas from intrusion from other areas.

Pity the poor CMO.

As technologies and communications mechanisms evolve and multiply – a trend that does not look to be slowing down – how can any reasonable person be expected to stay on top of it all? How can he/she be expected to ensure that the mini-strategies (tactics to the rest of us) actually coalesce into something that supports the corporate goals of increasing market share and ROI?

The CMO’s challenge for the 21st century is not merely to stay on top of marketplace trends and emerging marketing mechanisms, as it was in the 20th century. The challenge is to prevent mixed messages, fractured tactics, and the growth of mini-empires based on technology from overwhelming the whole.

The CMO’s challenge for the 21st century is to ensure the integration and unity of the entire organization’s marketing efforts. The CMO’s challenge is to prevent the dis-integration of marketing.

Earlier this week a client joked that she is working on her Black Belt in IdeaMap®, an online message optimization tool popular with our clients.

For those unfamiliar with IdeaMap®, it is an online tool rooted in decision based conjoint…or trade-off…analysis. It recognizes that when people make decisions they are “trading-off” bundles of attributes against each other and models the trade-offs they are willing to make.

An IdeaMap® study will reveal naturally occurring groups of consumers – groups who are motivated by the same messages. We may find one segment motivated by emotional benefits and another segment motivated by facts and figures. We call this MindTyping™…knowing which segment a consumer is in.

At its inception IdeaMap® was limited to the effect on intent of each message individually.

Then came the Interactive Effects Analysis™, an analysis developed to identify the most powerful combinations of messages – maybe a feature + benefit or brand promise + brand name. Marketing communications are generally a mix of messages that tell a story, this analysis helps clients optimize the mix.

Not one to rest on our laurels…what about when a client wants to go beyond the optimal message to the target overall or key subgroups? These clients want to know the optimal message for Consumer A (maybe an emotional benefit) and the optimal message for Consumer B (maybe facts and figures).

In our work with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign the AHA increased donations by 42.5% when they were able to identify which segment a consumer was in, then deliver a segment specific message to them. It’s all about getting the right message to the right person at the right time.

MindTyping™ represents the next evolution of IdeaMap®.

Maybe we will have to start referring to this new IdeaMap® capability as Black Belt Plus!

For more information about how MindTyping helped an organization grow, click here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeff Ewald is the founder of Optimization Group and the chief architect of the IdeaLoopz process. He has held research and senior marketing positions on both marketer and agency sides. Jeff’s career has been notable for his efforts in making marketing measurably effective. His work has been widely published, and a collaboration with Howard Moskowitz earned honors from the ESOMAR in 2001.Jeff’s professional career has included time at General Mills, Campbell’s Soup and J. Walter Thompson. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Wayne State University in Detroit. A former professional musician, Jeff will share road stories if prompted.