“Marketing experiences are the new marketing,” according to Altimeter Group principle analyst Brian Solis. Unfortunately, few marketers understand what the word “experience” means, all the while investing in brand architecture to scale those experiences across multiple platforms.

“It is really important for CMOs to understand that brand architecture is sort of representative of a bygone era where brands would tell people through creative campaigns what that brand stood for and why you should care,” Solis told CMO.com in an exclusive interview. “But it didn’t necessarily consider the experience people are having today. What is the experience they are sharing? What are the great experiences that they are having outside of our brand? And what could we do to be more relevant as they continue to evolve and change?”

Solis tackles the topic in his new book, “X: The Experience When Business Meets Design,” in which he makes the case that experiences are now the new brand.

The book also explores the need to integrate all forms of customer touch points to deliver a desired experience consistently throughout the journey. More so, it introduces the need for CMOs to become “experience architects.”

“The book’s purpose is to strip down the essence of experience to the idea that, in the future, experience is the brand, meaning that when someone comes into contact with your brand–a representative, marketing campaign, sales, customer service, email, or what have you–they have an experience,” Solis said. “It is an emotion; it is a response to that particular engagement. And the thing that just blows me away is that none of those elements, none of those touches, are consistent.”

Solis asks CMOs to rethink the future of branding by shifting their roles from just a marketing officer into one of experience architecture. CMOs are best-positioned to fulfill this duty because they are, by far, the most ambitious in expanding the digital footprint of their organization, Solis explained.

“I find that the chief marketing officer actually involves something that’s a little bit more significant in the organization,” Solis said. “So not just responsible for marketing, but responsible for the entire experience. After all, marketing experiences are the new marketing.”

Click here for more on Solis’ new book.