It turns out that the average tenure of a chief marketing officer (CMO) is 22 months. What are brands expecting from these poor people that they’d replace them so quickly? (The moon is not an option, by the way.)

According to Richard Guha, the president of Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), brands aren’t giving marketing pros enough time to prove their worth. As quoted in a MediaPost article by Laurie Sullivan, :

…marketing professionals get the least amount of time to learn a company business, and in many ways they need the most to fully understand the brand’s position. Too often, he says, companies bring on competent staff and don’t give them the time to figure out the business.

This rush to react is sad but true, and even more common in a bad economy, I’d imagine. But, in the case of hiring/firing high level marketing professionals, it is amazingly short-sighted. After all, most marketers who are considered “successful” have been allowed the time and budget to invest in the consumer “courting” process. (Note: the elusion to dating in this context is not a gender stereotype, but a pointed description of how brands should see their efforts to reach all consumers.)

Thus, brands need to be ready to invest in the people heading that all important consumer investment process. Those companies that embrace the long term, deliberate and incremental steps of proving trustworthiness to customers will grow . Those that re-organize a marketing department for lightweight, short-term reasons may actually interrupt that very delicate growth momentum.

And yet, this sort of immediate (or, frantic?) response is fairly typical human behavior. We all want it now - increased sales, awards, media attention! There are marketing professionals lining up to get those jobs, after all, so why not run through a few and see how it goes? Sigh. I find it telling that the brand leaders who fire their CMOs so quickly, as per the MENG research, would seem to have second guessed their own hiring process. Hmmm. Thus, in a flash of “that last campaign didn’t work,” out goes all the due diligence, time and budget on the initial CMO hire.

Why even discuss this lack of CMO investment? Because, there is a real connection between continuity in marketing decision-makers, messaging and how women may see and trust a brand. Subtle? Yes. But, discerning and savvy consumers all expect to see investment, not reactionary moves, throughout a brand’s internal and external actions.

The art and science of great marketing campaigns can only be delivered by people who have the talent and the experience. Of course, there will be cases where firing a CMO quickly is the best move. I simply propose a little extra caution before acting.

Everything is interconnected - often moreso from a woman’s perspective - so it makes good sense to invest in CMOs as much as customers, doesn’t it?

It is clearly an unstable and uncomfortable time in the marketplace. However, the idea is to resist reactionary fires and hires, and allow marketing leaders more time to prove themselves trustworthy (and effective). It might feel productive or smart to rush to fire a CMO, but the long-term harm in both consumer and general business perception may well not be worth it.

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At a BlogHer discussion last weekend, moderator Susan Wagner said one of the three main trends she saw was green beauty. (Another was renewing and recycling clothes.) On SheFinds.com, we’ve been spotlighting “eco-chic.”

And now Wal-Mart is jumping into green fashion, with a traceable jewelry line called Love, Earth. According to the Love, Earth section of Wal-Mart’s website, which shows a blue-eyed blonde dangling a $38 pendant in front of a wheat-stalk backdrop, the jewelry is “created with materials form eco-responsible, community-friendly sources.” The pieces will be traceable from mine to retailer via a batch number that consumers can enter online. (more…)

Dare I say that I, like most women (yes I’m overgeneralizing) drive cars we like to get ourselves and the people we love from place to place. So, when Doug’s departure date arrived, I hadn’t given a thought to the next car. I am busy. Doug’s busy. He was especially busy as the Mercedes sales guy from the dealership took him away.

Carless (don’t tell my 16 year old I borrowed his car, he’s in camp), I began to pay attention to ads on television, specifically Mercedes’ as those were my people. (more…)

by Milton Pedraza

Advice from friends or family carries considerable weight in shaping spending decisions, but many wealthy consumers are turning to the Web for much of their education on potential high-end purchases, findings which we have published in our latest Luxury Institute Survey of Americans with annual incomes of at least $150,000 on the key factors driving buying decisions in seven categories of luxury goods and services.

Nearly two-thirds of the wealthy (64 percent) go directly to websites (more…)

Business owner sells product or service to girl.

Girl leaves business owner.

Girl and business owner live satisfied ever after.

It’s not the stuff of dreams, is it? It wouldn’t even make a good story. It happens every day. Yawn. So what is it missing? How about a chase? Girl meets business owner. (more…)

Learn about trend watching plus who are Twisted Traditonalists and what kind of impact they will have on future generations with Nancy Robinson, VP Consumer Strategist of Iconoculture

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Next Tuesday - Holly Buchanan talks to Maria about the Soccer Mom Myth - don’t miss!

Mark Ghuneim of Wiredset suggests that before embarking upon a social media campaign, companies need to learn to follow the rules of social media, like maintaining authenticity and participating consistently. In talking to well-established brands, he’s absolutely right. (more…)

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Purse Strings, with Maria Reitan, of Carmichael Lynch Spong, is a program focused on marketing to women. (more…)

Another reason why women don’t want to be marketed to is that there are so many stereotypes and negative images of women in advertising.

Don’t believe me? (more…)