I ask 15 top CMOs the question, "How do you show love to customers every day?

1. How 15 Top CMOs
Show Customers Love

2. We are living in the sharing age.
Consumers and business can obtain instant information
about products and services, and have more ways to
share their views on them than ever before. From rants
on social media sites to reviews on category-specific
platforms, consumers and business buyers are having
their say and listening to each other.
As marketers, two vital implications of this sharing age
are:
+ We need to be more creative in the ways we
reach customers.
+We must create more meaningful brand
experiences for and with them.
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale

3. “How do you show love to your
customers everyday?”
I thought it would be inspiring to pose
this question to a cross-industry sample
of my CMO network:
Here are their
responses as well as
my own…

4. Reward Loyalty
“Millions of people make Dunkin’ Donuts an important
part of daily life, so we strive to show our thanks and
appreciation for our guests’ loyalty and passion each
and every day. Our DD Perks Rewards Program is a key
initiative towards that goal, as we have created one of
the most robust loyalty programs in our industry, offering
guests points towards a free beverage with every
purchase, as well as a free beverage when they register
and on their birthday. We also focus on our social and
mobile communities by offering special promotions and
offers on a regular basis. Plus, we have a strong
commitment to innovation and we are continually
refreshing our menu to delight our guests and keep them
returning to our restaurants, such as our heart-shaped
donuts for Valentine’s Day."
John Costello
President, Global Marketing and Innovation
Dunkin’
@JohnCostello307

5. Exceed Expectations
“Allstate shows love for our customers by delivering
more than they expect from an insurance company–
every day. Yes, we provide expert advice and
innovative products to help protect the people and
things they care about, but we also surprise and
delight them by helping them save money when
they buy a new SUV or a car seat for their child, find
an expert to care for their trees or other household
needs, or even to locate their parked car in a
gigantic mall parking lot. Our ‘Good Hands’ are
delivering more today than ever before, and our
customers simply love it!”
Sanjay Gupta
CMO
Allstate Insurance Company

6. Walk in the
Customer’s Shoes
“We show love to our customers by
spending time in-person with them to
better understand what they need.
Sometimes, customers may not be able to
tell us what they need but by watching
them closely, understanding their situation
and being in their shoes, they will show
us.”
Eduardo Conrado
SVP, Global Innovation Officer
Motorola Solutions
@conradoeduardo

7. Never Give Up
“We are in the businesses of amplifying your
life with music. We listen, care and act to show
you our love and appreciation every day, so we
can elevate your experiences, to make you
feel more inspired, alive and uninhibited. We
have always been committed to creating
perfection for the listener. That’s why we never
give up on our ongoing pursuit to provide the
best connection and experience whether it is in
sales or in support, so we can all appreciate
sound like it is meant to be heard.”
Sean Kapoor
VP Global Marketing
Harman International
@geekbuddah

8. Help Clients Succeed
"Last year we sent some of our top customers
and loyal brand advocates Valentines Day
cards. It was a simple gesture but it felt great to
see the reactions from our clients. They
appreciated the 'love' on Valentine's Day. At
IBM, we're working to become a relationship-
driven company. The days of mass marketing
are behind us. We're working to build advocacy
one customer at a time by building trusted
relationships with our clients to help them
succeed. Success is a team sport. And we love
to help our clients succeed."
Tami Cannizzarro
VP, Marketing
IBM Cloud
@tamicann

9. Encourage
“Mary Kay Ash often said, ‘P & L
stands for people and love.’ One of
the ways that I show my love for our
customers, the Independent Sales
Force, is by regularly sharing
encouragement along with
motivational quotes, images and blogs
with them via Twitter and Instagram.”
Sheryl Adkins-Green
Chief Marketing Officer
Mary Kay, Inc.
@SherryAG

10. Engage Employees
"Being in the business of providing talent management
solutions, I am in a unique position to be a user and a
marketer of our products. As a leader, I care passionately
about employee engagement and development, which
means I have a strong opinion about the potential of our
solution and can truly relate to our clients. I view each
customer interaction with the same excitement and
anticipation of going on a date – an opportunity to
exchange ideas, discuss our trials and tribulations, and
share our hopes and dreams. Genuinely appreciating
their passion is how I show my love for our customers,
and the insights I’ve learned from them have allowed me
to craft marketing messages that are more authentic,
approachable, and aspirational."
Emily He
CMO
Saba Software
@emilyhe1

11. Seek to Understand
“Two words: Impactful empathy. Seeking a
deep understanding of the things that matter
to our client— the individual, the person —
and then empowering that person to make
faster, smarter and more confident decisions.
It sounds rather simple, but great marketers
understand that "showing love” means first
and foremost seeking to understand.”
Marcy Shinder
CMO
Nielsen
@marcyshinder

12. Be a True
Partner
“Like any trusted relationship,
we demonstrate our love for our
customers by being a true
partner, and ensuring we have
their back every day, and at
every touch point.”
Lisa Bacus
EVP & Global CMO
Cigna
@lrb123

13. Simplify Communications
"CMOs make decisions each day where we can
put customers first, both in marketing and across
all of our companies. My current top idea is to
ensure that when writing content, we make it
easy for customers to understand and that it
uses their language, not internal product, brand
or marketing speak. Put simply, it's so important
to use the language of our customers. We get
caught up with internal terms and I always ask
the team to use the language of our customers."
Chris X. Moloney
Former CMO
Scottrade Experian & Wells Fargo Advisors
@CMOChris

14. Focus on Culture
"We just started a new program. We call it 76
Seconds. It's simple. It takes 76 seconds to
positively impact a fan - at a game or in the
community. Every single staff member has been 76
Seconds trained. We have 200 staff at 41 home
games. If every staff member can make one memory
a game we can drive positive fan experience in a
scalable way. That's over 8,000 memories we can
create! Every staffer is equipped with a dozen or so
special gifts that they can hand deliver to fans.
Maybe it's a surprise meet and greet with a player.
Maybe it's merchandise. Maybe it's a visit to the
court. 76 Seconds is more than an initiative. It's who
we are. It's part of our culture."
Tim McDermott
Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer
Philadelphia 76ers

15. Show and Tell Passion
"In the Manufacturing Cloud, we are in
partnership with our customers 24/7/365,
helping them make everything from
diesel engines to salted caramel
chocolates. We show our love for
customers in our own passion for making
things, and they return it by letting us tell
their stories in fun and creative ways."
Heidi Melin
CMO
Plex Systems
@heidimelin

16. Listen to Customers
“Our customers are our true advisors. So our goal is
to make sure that we are listening to her in every
channel and instance she is expressing herself.
Each time she reads our Rebecca Minkoff blog,
buys from our website, or goes to our fitting room to
try on a dress—we are learning from her and we
have the opportunity to have her fall in love with the
brand by inspiring her, surprising her and
entertaining her. We know she is passionate, playful
and complex, hence we post inspirational quotes to
our Instagram feed on Mondays, offer her a drink in
our store while she is shopping, or repair her
favorite bag she may have ripped. We truly care
about our customer and we try to show it in little
ways everyday.”
Emily S. Culp
SVP, eCommerce & Omni-Channel
Marketing Rebecca Minkoff
@emilyculp

17. Write Letters
“Nothing says love like a love
letter. I hope that many will take a
few moments from their busy
schedules and write letters of
gratitude instead of emails. The
impact of writing a card or letter
cannot be underestimated.”
Nagisa Manabe
Chief Marketing and Sales Officer
United States Postal Service
@nmmanabe

18. Know Your Purpose
“You can’t love if you don’t know
yourself. At Siegel+Gale, one of
things we do is help our clients
define their brand purpose and
values. This enables them to build
deep, enduing relationships with
their customers.”
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale
@MargaretMolloy

19. If a theme emerges, it is that, these marketing
leaders declare a heartfelt desire to spend
more time with their customers. Whether the
sometimes-fickle customer will requite their
affections with true love remains to be seen. One
thing is for sure, in this sharing age, the
customer-brand relationship will no longer
be a private affair.
Follow and Tweet me
@MargaretMolloy
A version of this presentation
first appeared on Forbes.com

20. www.siegelgale.com
Siegel+Gale is the simplicity company. We are a global strategic
branding, design, and experience firm.