CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers)
CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) are the corporate executives responsible for an organization’s marketing activities and innovation. Primary responsibilities are to generate revenue by increasing sales through brand management, marketing communications, market research, product marketing, distribution channel management, pricing, and customer service.
Every year, highly respected firms like Deloitte, Dentsu, Gartner and PWC conduct surveys on what’s important to CMOs, challenges, opportunities, and trends.
We culled these studies for statistics the majority of CMOs are feeling. Our conclusion is CMOs are at a crossroads. Here are 26 stats and 4 key takeaways.
#1. Increases in marketing spend and digital channels will continue
- 61% have increased the number of marketing channels they use over the last 3 years.
- 58 on a scale of 100 are optimistic are about the U.S. economy.
- 53% are offering training for employees on new technology because the current market environment.
- 53% of marketing spending is going to digital channels.
- 50% of CMOs are exploring new strategies vs. established approaches to adjust to the current economic environment.
- 27% rise is social media spending is expected in 5 years.
#2. CMOs see their role as growth of brand awareness, customer base, and short term sales and revenue
- 93% use social media for brand awareness and brand building; 72% use it for brand promotions; 69% for acquiring new customers; 60% for retaining current customers.
- 90% are increasing communications about their company’s purpose and values.
- 89% of CMOs say they’re effectively focusing on customer personalization.
- 68% say they are primarily accountable for the growth of their customer base; 56% for product or service innovation; 45% for short-term sales and revenue growth, and 42% for digital transformation programs.
- 57% of marketing operations are working from home some of the time; 39% are working from home all of the time.
- 55% describe their target as a premium market.
- Most used metrics are sales/revenue (70%), website and mobile performance (56%), content engagement (43%), lead generation (40%) and lead conversion (37%).
- Least used metrics are customer experience/engagement (24%), Net Promoter Score (21%), Customer Lifetime Value (12%) and brand equity value (7%).
#3. However, CMOs face increased pressure to achieve short-term results
- 86% of marketers say they must make significant changes to how the marketing function works to achieve sustainable results.
- 75% of CMOs are facing increased pressure to “do more with less” to deliver profitable growth in 2023.
- 71% are unwilling to have their brand take a stance on political charges issues.
- 70% of CMOs time is spent managing the present vs preparing for the future.
- 67% CMOs think there is a recession, signaling a more negative assessment of the economic environment.
- 53% say financial, market instability and inflation are the biggest external challenges facing their business.
- CMOs have seen technology investments tumble into new lows of unproductivity, with utilization rates falling from 58% in 2020 to 42% in 2022.
- For this reason, 75% of marketers report being under pressure to cut martech spend this year to deliver better ROI.
#4. Great majority of CMOs expect AI to be a game changer impacting business and goals
- 91% believe AI is the future; 9% believe it is a fad..
- 87% of CMOs think AI adoption will have a significant or critical impact on their business’ ability to meet its goals.
- 83% are extremely or somewhat excited about AI’s impact on society.
- 79% CMOs think AI will have a significant or preponderant impact on their business.
If you are a CMO, do these challenges and opportunities reflect the way you are feeling presently? Are you ready for what is coming in your future?
