'SUSE believes in the power of the digital world'

Deepti Sharma
Marketing Head - SUSE India & Sri Lanka 

"In today’s digital environment, CMOs are at the forefront of business. As marketers, we are operating in a new paradigm that represents a tipping point and allows us to own the voice of the customer through insights and develop personalized experiences across every touch point. Through insight-driven marketing, we have the ability to anticipate new, unexplored business opportunities and bring this value to the c-suite.

To advance the valuable contributions marketing can make from boosting short term sales to growing long term market share, it is important for marketers to build trust and influence.

Trust, authority and credibility are earned as a result of programs developed and undertaken, with subsequent positive results. They are not just marketing programs, but must be contributing and supporting the company’s overall objectives.

As a CMO, presently I am leading the Marketing function at SUSE across four countries, including India, Srilanka, Nepal & Bangladesh. I have successfully driven marketing operations, marketing ROI, budget management, strategies across multiple channels, branding, lead generation, digital presence and other customer/prospect outreach programs. I have overseen the expansion of the company’s business through strategic alliances and partnerships with leading global brands. I have made efforts to understand fully how customers are changing, and to become more involved in developing new marketing capabilities across the company.

The explosion of social networks, active brand advocates and the power shift to influential bloggers from traditional media outlets, is causing uncertainty and anxiety at many companies and among CMOs. Consumer expects us to know them: how they think, how they act, and that we listen to their buying signals.

Our biggest opportunity is to create an environment where we connect our customers seamlessly and consistently to our company’s purpose and values – whether they are experiencing content on our website or in-product, at an event or in digital selling. No longer can we develop, build and run content in a linear. With the ever-changing dynamics of our industry with new digital platforms, marketers need to embrace an agile marketing mindset. The idea that we can Test. Learn. Change…. all of the time, not just in pilots.

Poorly researched, planned, executed and measured marketing doesn’t add a lot of value to the customer experience or the business bottom line. On the other hand, strategic, authentic, data informed and empathetic, dynamic and accountable marketing serves both customers as well as the performance of the business.

I think everyone in the marketing world has an opportunity to take a step back from the information overload and pressures of output on a daily basis to be more thoughtful about the marketing they’re doing. Of course we have to think about the immediate impact of content, ads and campaigns but also about the overall value and impact of marketing on our customers, business and industry. Marketing done well with a clear why, measurement and purpose creates the kind of value that both customers and business leaders will trust, ensuring credibility and investment far into the future.

At SUSE, we believe in the power of the digital world and have orchestrated a broad strategy to maximize our presence on the digital platform. We are also reaching our prospective customers through various new age marketing tools apart from the direct sales."