Agency Spotter recently sat down with Ed Nevraumont, a CMO and seasoned analytical marketer with over 15 years of experience at organizations like McKinsey and Expedia.
Today’s CMO needs both a creative vision and a serious proficiency with marketing analytics to build a sustainable, successful brand. Ed Nevraumont is setting the standard for modern marketers and CMOs, demonstrating the power of possessing a data-driven skill set to shake up the marketing status quo.
As the CMO at A Place for Mom (APFM), Nevraumont oversees all aspects of marketing, from SEO to traditional television advertising, for the nation’s largest senior living advisement company. By placing emphasis on simplifying processes and cutting out clutter, Nevraumont has been instrumental in transforming A Place for Mom from a struggling startup into a serious e-commerce player that helps over 200,000 families find senior living solutions each year.
Nevraumont speaking on marketing personalization and data analytics at TechToronto
How a Background in Marketing Analytics Propelled Ed’s Career
Nevraumont credits McKinsey with teaching him how to think like a CEO, and giving him the tools he needed to be effective at managing and scaling a brand from the point of view of a global organization. Working with companies around the world, from Europe to Africa to the US, his focus on customer lifecycle management (CLM), customer acquisition, monetization, and churn reduction, helped him put analytics into practice in a big way.
Before McKinsey, Nevraumont received his MBA from Wharton with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. He initially spent time at P&G in an Account Management capacity with a focus on traditional product marketing. Seeking a more analytical role, Nevraumont transitioned to McKinsey, where he led CLM and customer acquisition efforts on a global scale. He oversaw business decisions in strategy, operations, and marketing, allowing him to use his quantitative background to impact industries such as telecom and retail.
In his final career move before taking his current role at APFM, Nevraumont served as VP of Customer Loyalty and Database Marketing for travel industry giant Expedia. While at Expedia, Nevraumont had the opportunity to launch initiatives such as a lucrative partnership with Groupon, as well as rewards programs that directly influenced customer retention and engagement.
After showing a proven track record of data-driven success, Nevraumont was approached to overhaul APFM, where he initially oversaw company growth rates in excess of 40 percent per year.
What it Takes to Be a Modern CMO
When asked how his background prepared him to be a CMO, Nevraumont continuously stressed the importance of quantitative knowledge and proficiency with math and reporting.
While the traditional CMO is creative and can effectively manage teams, the modern CMO needs to have more technical skills, and truly understand the math behind marketing spend.
As a self-described “revenue-driven CMO,” Nevraumont has used his education in areas like consumer behavior modeling to determine the specific revenue impact of each business activity he initiates.
He has also used his background to think outside of the box and bring fresh ideas to the marketing team at APFM. In order to generate additional streams of revenue, Nevraumont has sought partnership opportunities in areas like real estate to capitalize on underserved segments of the elderly care market.
Nevraumont and members of the APFM team at their offices in downtown Seattle
Taking a More Focused View to Manage Agency Relationships
When he needs to bring in experts, Nevraumont relies on hyper niche-specific agencies for both creative and analytical work. For example, rather than use an SEO agency, he will seek out a cross linking agency to achieve a very targeted marketing objective.
His main critique of agency work? There is too much focus on sales and cross-selling, and not enough on unique capabilities. Nevraumont advises to “never hire your PR agency to do your paid search,” and find agencies that truly specialize in one core service to deliver the best results.
How to Differentiate in the Marketing Mix
Looking ahead, Nevraumont is excited about bringing mobile to new verticals, as well as continuing to find better ways to measure the effects of content marketing. Another goal is to make social media marketing more effective, rather than “just a thing to do” as part of the marketing mix.
Key Takeaways from Our Conversation with Ed Nevraumont
To win as a modern marketer, get back to basics, simplify your marketing strategy, and focus on doing the right things to drive results.
You can read Ed’s personal blog, Marketing is Easy, or follow him on Twitter for his daily insights into the marketing industry.
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