In the good old days, marketing was simple; it focused on putting the product or service in the hands of the customer. Distribution channels, communication networks were fairly limited; life for the marketing leader was fairly predicable, limited and unassuming.

Today, there are too many factors that influence the marketing function. A plethora of acronyms (CRM, SEO, SMM, SEM, CMS, CSS, and many, many more) requires the CMOs to expand their mode of thinking, and their access to resources.  Unlike any other time in history, leaders must build a marketing ecosystem.

A marketing ecosystem is a network of organizations – including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies and so on – involved in the delivery of the brand promise. It’s all the pieces in a market specific product or service through both competition and cooperation.

The complexities of customers, competitors, geographies, etc. require cooperation across departments, functions, executives, vendors, customers, etc. Your viability depends on these solid, organized relationships.