• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 19, 2024

Chief marketing officers are not being appointed from the email team. That’s clear from the low ranking that email has as a content channel, as reported in Building Connection In The Age of AI, a study by Greentarget and Zeughauser Group. 

CMOs list these preferences on a scale of 0 to 5:

Articles — 4.9 

Research reports — 4.7

Website content — 4.4

Conferences & webinars — 4.5

Interactive charts — 4.4 

Infographics — 4.4 

Video — 4.1 

Newsletters — 4.1

Podcasts — 3.8

Email alerts — 3.6 

In contrast, the average company’s in-house counsel prefers:  

Articles — 4.9

Research reports — 4.8 

Conferences & webinars — 4.5

Website content — 4.4

Interactive charts — 4.3

Newsletters — 4.2 

Email alert — 3.9 

Infographics — 3.3 

Video — 3.2 

Podcasts — 3.0

Of course, newsletters, which are also delivered by email, are being utilized by both groups.  

Apart from that, the study shows that traditional media like The Wall Street Journal are seen as a valued content source by 88% of survey respondents.  

Within the C-suite, The Wall Street Journal is the top source of content, followed by: 

Publications and websites covering profession — 80%

Trade publications covering industry news — 72%

LinkedIn — 70% 

Outside professional services provider/vendor websites — 67%

Thought leader websites and blogs — 65%

Instagram/Threads — 56%

Peer-driven rankings or listing services — 52%

Facebook—44% 

X (formerly Twitter)—32% 

What are the most attract content components? For the C-suite, they are: 

Utility/usefulness — 70%

Current — 67% 

Source — 61%

Headline/subject line — 50% 

Length (short)—44%

Visual appeal—44%

Graphics—36% 

Author—36%

Popularity — 33%

Actionable — 31%

Meanwhile, AI is the area for which C-suite members want “more guidance from their outside advisors (59%), surpassing cybersecurity and data privacy and DEI, the leading two such topics for that group in 2022.,“ the study notes. 

Greentarget surveyed more than 285 in-house counsel and C-suites from May to July 2024.