Chief marketing officers are in a reasonably optimistic state.
While only 9% are extremely confident about marketing’s ability to handle economic
adversity/uncertainty against their revenue growth mandate, 25% remain very upbeat and 39% moderately so, according to Outsmart Adversity: How CMOs can Weather Economic Headwinds And Emerge Poised For
Growth, a study from the CMO Council and Sprinklr.
But it depends on how you add it up. Thirty-six percent say their budgets are growing, while 31% say they remain the same and 33% report
there has been a decrease.
Similarly, 25% report that their technology budgets are decreasing, with the remainder split by between increases and remaining the same by a 36-29%
margin.
Some blame their CFOs. Of those polled, 19% strongly agree they are able to convince their CFOs to invest in marketing and not cut the budget, while 40% somewhat agree, 19% disagree,
and 21% neither agree or disagree.
Only 23% have a very effective relationship with IT, but 99% agree it is imperative for CMOs and CIOs to develop a competitive advantage with CX.
What are their 12-month plans for when they have emerged from this uncertain period? They expect to:
- Orchestrate customer journeys to drive an omnichannel experience —
21%
- Drive customer acquisition and growth — 20%
- Leverage AI and data to scale analytics — 17%
- Double down on loyalty
and retention — 12%
- Optimize OpEx by unifying Martech — 11%
- Invest in brand reputation — 10%
- Talent acquisition
and retention — 7%
- Other — 2%
Meanwhile, those who feel highly confident cite these strategies and capabilities as
extremely important:
- Leveraging data analytics to become more predictive — 80%
- Articulating marketing’s
value to impact revenue — 65%
- Growing loyalty/retention/LTV through social care and personalization — 55%
- Consolidating MarTect and leveraging AI to deliver omnichannel CX — 43%
- Balancing investments across brand and demand — 43%
- Driving acquisition through conversational commerce — 27%
Large percentages also think these activities are very important.
In contrast, less
confident marketers say these strategies are extremely important:
- Leveraging data analytics to become more predictive — 63%
- Articulating marketing's value to impact revenue — 48%
- Growing loyalty/retention/LTV through social care and personalization — 48%
- Consolidating MarTech and leveraging AI to deliver omnichannel CX — 34%
- Balancing investments across brand and demand — 29%
- Driving acquisition through conversational commerce — 19%
The CMO Council surveyed almost 500 global marketing leaders.
Of those polled, 28% were in firms
with greater than $5 billion in estimated 2023 revenue; 29% in firms with $1 billion-$5 billion estimated revenue; 12% with $751 million to $1 billion; 6% with $501 million to $750 million, and 25%
with less than $500 million in estimated revenue.