How Top Marketers Keep Current

One of the most frequent questions I

get is “how do you stay current?”

In the spirit of back to school, I asked 15 marketing leaders the question.

Margaret MolloyGlobal CMO

Siegel+Gale

@MargaretMolloy

Filter, Not Fire Hose

"When it comes to staying informed, think filter, not fire hose. There's an almost unfathomable amount of content produced about digital transformation and marketing, so I focus efforts on identifying smart people and customizing digital tools to act as filters for the latest and best ideas."

Perry HewittChief Digital Officer

Harvard University

@perryhewitt

Social Media"The most useful place I go to discover and follow the latest and most interesting info about social media is… social media! My favorite is Twitter, where I can find out about an event on the other side of the world that convened brilliant minds on a topic like data visualization, and by digging into #dataviz I can find some new people to follow and learn from going forward that I might never otherwise have found."

Lisa ShalettAdvisory Director and former Head of Brand Marketing & Digital Strategy

Goldman Sachs

Broad Perspective“There is so much information available today – it’s a question of deciphering the good stuff from the noise. To inspire new thinking, I often check social media feeds of those whose opinions I value. I also attend conferences to hear what is going on in the marketplace. For example, I just came back from the Fortune Brainstorm Tech, where my favorite session was on wearables. It's not an obvious link back to my job -- but thinking about consumers, what they want, their motivations and satisfying their needs is always interesting, no matter the product -- because satisfying a consumer need is in essence the heart of marketing.”

Maryam BanikarimCMO

Gannett Corp Inc.

Reverse Mentoring

"I find people 20 years younger than me and watch them."

Deirdre BigleyCMO

Bloomberg

@DeirdreBigley

Trusted Peers“My secret for staying up to date is to learn from other marketers I trust. For example, I follow my friend Ramit Sethi on the social bookmarking service Delicious, which allows me to see all the articles he deems worthy of saving; he then does the same to me, allow us to learn from each other.” 

Chris YehVP, Marketing

Pbworks

@chrisyeh

Mind Shift"With so much information, you need to shift your thinking in a few fundamental ways. I used to spend time finding information; now I focus on filtering information. I ask myself, "What's not worth paying attention to?" You also need new mental models to make sense of the information. "What are the patterns in what I'm seeing?" Finally, place more value on curation than creation. It's easy to generate content these days, but harder to have a point of view that filters the stream in useful ways. I surround myself with people who have a high signal-to-noise ratio."

Mark BonchekFounder

SHIFT Academy

@MarkBonchek

Stay Connected"Just as the channels we use have exploded, the channels I use to stay up to date on key trends in the marketing space have evolved considerably. CMO.com, my LinkedIn and Twitter feeds, the Bloomberg mobile app, and WSJ digital edition are some of my top go-to external content sources. Relationships continue to be bedrock. There are just more ways to stay connected than ever before."

Dan MarksDivisional CMO

Sears Holdings

Study + Discuss“There are three things I do. First, I’m involved in four professional associations: M50, CMO Club, BMA, and B2B London. Second, I study marketing everywhere I see it and discuss with my teams. Third, I read books.”

Phillip Clement Global CMO

Aon Corporation

Back to Basics“Read as much as I can from various Marketing/Digital related magazines and email newsletters. Also attend conferences and dinners where I feel relevant best practices will be shared.”

Elisabeth CharlesSVP & CMO

PETCO Animal Supplies

@ebcharles1

Engage Your Network“Staying up to date requires persistent social influencer engagement and curation, which provides a valuable stream of real time updates. Equally, networking while travelling enables conversations about what's changing is a valuable source on new insights particularly in rapidly evolving markets.”

Raj RaoVP, Global eTransformation

3M

External Organizations“I belong to two external marketing organizations that allow me to benchmark better marketing practices. These organizations meet on a routine basis. I also keep up to date with new literature from books and periodicals.”

Victor MaurtuaVP, Strategy & Business

Development

Pall Corporation

@VicMaurtua

Twitter

“I follow CMOs, marketers, brands, agency execs, and marketing publications on Twitter. Using Twitter lists helps me stay organized.”

Christine CuocoDirector, Global Business Marketing

Twitter

@christinecuoco

Daily Routine

“I believe in a wide diversity of information sources to stay abreast of current trends and new ideas in marketing. I subscribe to fellow CMO blogs, read the academic Journal of International Marketing, and start my day with a news roundup email relating specifically to my company's industry sector. I check LinkedIn regularly for updates.”

James LathamCMO

Electro Scientific Industries

@jlatham

Download Everything

"I am pretty insatiable with Marketing alerts, newsletters and white papers. I download everything seemingly relevant."

Mark HannaCMO

Richline Group

@MarkCHanna

Aggregators“Everyday, I read sites and social media that aggregate the most important stories for senior marketers such as CMO.com, McKinsey & Co. Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, ePubs from Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley Watcher, AlwaysOn, etc.), and relevant LinkedIn groups (CMO Network, CMO Council, CMO Executive Network, etc.).”

Steve CookCMO

Fision

@stevencook

Stay Close to Disruptors

“Marketing is a contact sport. My best method to keep current is to immerse myself in the startup/disruptor world. I serve as a CMO judge for startup awards, beta test new marketing tools, and attend conference with emerging firms.”

Margaret MolloyGlobal CMO

Siegel+Gale

@MargaretMolloy

Thanks to my marketing friends for sharing their practices.

Now over to you…

“How do you stay current?”

Tweet me @MargaretMolloy

A version of this piece first appeared in Forbes

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