BMC’s Martyn Etherington Discusses “Lean Marketing” and the Role of a “Growth CMO”

Martyn Etherington is the Chief Marketing Officer of BMC Software, a Texas-based IT services/consulting and enterprise application software company with annual revenues of $2.2 billion.  He is a strong believer in the importance of acting as a “Growth CMO,” and often attributes success to adopting a sense of “fearlessness” in that role.  

Additionally, he views marketing not only as the means to shape a company’s overall growth mindset, but as being critical to aligning any organization with strategy deployment, operationalization, and continuous improvement.  That level of clarity and direction is extremely important as BMC serves over 10,000 customers worldwide with software that helps them both run and reinvent their businesses through products used for multiple functions like automation, service management, operations, workflow orchestration, and security.  

Given current concerns about economic uncertainty and business headlines urging leaders to “do more with less,” Martyn Etherington sees what he terms “Lean Marketing” as a method of discouraging waste and continuously improving, while also delivering growth.

 Related to Lean Marketing is his support for applying “the aggregation of marginal gains” to the discipline of marketing.  This concept of daily improvement was made famous by British cycling coach Dave Brailsford, who led his team to 10 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics—after not experiencing any appreciable prior wins. The Aggregation of Marginal Gains theory asserts that improving a particular skill by as little as 1% every day enables one to be better than 90% of others with the same skill.

Interestingly, Martyn Etherington admits that several years ago, he would have been called a “purpose skeptic.”  However, he has seen what happens when employees live a company’s purpose, and how that experience has changed his thinking about what a purpose-led ethos can achieve.

To learn more from Martyn Etherington about being a Growth CMO in turbulent times and how Lean Marketing can overcome economic instability, watch the video interview on Internationalist Marketing TV (IMTV) on YouTube by CLICKING HERE.

To hear more from Martyn Etherington about being a Growth CMO in turbulent times and how Lean Marketing can overcome economic instability, listen to the podcast as part of our Trendsetters Podcast series on iHeartRadio’s Spreaker.

In our conversation, we discuss the following:

• Tell us a little about BMC’s advocacy for the ongoing evolution to an Autonomous Digital Enterprise…
• Prior to COVID, I recall that what mattered most to you as a marketer was driving revenue, market share, and brand growth…. as well as fostering marketing transformation for brands and teams…  Are these issues still paramount today?
• You often say that CMOs should drive a growth agenda.  Tell us what that means…
• Many companies are now concerned about economic instability… how does that affect a growth agenda?
• You also talk about Lean Marketing… I’m sure our audience would love to know more about it, particularly after the one of the most repeated lines from this year’s WEF meeting at Davos was “doing more with less.”
• I’m also curious about your perspective on being a purpose-driven company—especially in new era of ESG.  Does purpose matter?
• What would advise to new CMOs today? 
• What’s next for you and BMC?  

Martyn Etherington was named senior vice president and chief marketing officer of BMC Software, Inc., in August 2022.

Before joining BMC, Martyn was the executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Teradata, Inc. He was responsible for strategic marketing, brand and reputation management, digital and social media, customer demand generation, influencer marketing, public relations, communications, and customer experiences. During his time at Teradata, he led the company through a brand, marketing, and cloud transformation.

In prior roles, Martyn was also the chief marketing officer for Cisco/Jasper where he was responsible for driving global marketing. He has also served in marketing leadership roles at Danaher and IBM.

Martyn is an industry-recognized marketing executive with an outstanding record of driving revenue, market share, and brand growth. He is a marketing transformer who builds world-class, global brands and teams. With a focus on sales alignment, he has consistently delivered tangible and measurable results that contribute to overall company growth. The Economist has recognized him as one of the Top 25 Social Business Leaders, Forbes has named him one of the Top 50 marketers, and The Internationalist has called him one of the top international marketers.