Encourage your team to build relationships across the organization and to be fluent in the business situation facing your organization. Watch out for "Agency-itis"—where your team members see themselves as a separate group. Self-contained groups are easiest to get ride of.

 

How do you measure success? Marketing is notoriously hard to measure, but there are a lot of ways you can track your contribution to the business. Things like direct marketing and Web-site performance are easier to track—but it's also worthwhile to note decisions you contributed to that saved or made money for the company. Set objectives and make sure you track results.

 

Provide Finance and Operations with regular updates on how you measure marketing success. Share data necessary for helping them—and the company—understand what Marketing is doing.

 

Marketing teams are great at setting up annual plans and objectives—but sometimes these plans need to change rapidly. Don't complain that the organization is schizophrenic when they ask you to cancel the ad campaign you worked so hard to develop, or to limit product development to customer-requested fixes despite data that shows long term opportunities. Instead, listen carefully, and think about what you would do if you owned the business. Sometimes quick changes are critical to keep the company alive and cash flow in tact.

* * *

CMOs everywhere are in danger of losing their jobs right now—not because of this dismal economy but because they've forgotten that marketing is about knowing the market and making good decisions about how to reach the market. It's not about pretty pictures, or glossy brochures, or even how much you're Tweeted about. It's about leadership and strategic focus.

And in these tough times, when we have fewer resources than we've ever had, we need the leadership to focus on how we should best use the ammunition we have.