Chief marketing officers (CMOs) are stepping up their game in 2014 to prove their value as true business leaders.
According to the latest Heidrick & Struggles and Forrester Research joint study, nearly 60% of surveyed CMOs are working to grow their influence in general business strategy and are commanding an influential seat within the C-suite.
More than half of the CMOs surveyed identify C-suite relationships as vital to success, with three-quarters of that group pointing to the head of sales as the most important relationship.
CMOs’ aspirations are also on the move.
“In the past five years, we’ve seen many more CMOs aspiring to the COO or CEO role as their next career move. As customer dynamics continue to shift and consumers take even greater purchasing control, marketing executives are in an excellent position to take the helm,” says John Abele, managing partner: marketing, sales & strategy practice at Heidrick & Struggles.
“The data shows in order to reach these senior leadership positions, CMOs will have to focus on building cross-functional leadership experience and building trust and influence across the organisation.”
To drive their status forward as a business leader, CMOs recognise the need for deeper data solutions and customer insights. But getting answers won’t be easy. While 73% of CMOs agree on the importance of having a single view of the customer, fewer than 20% of companies have achieved this goal.
What’s causing this dichotomy? For one, many CMOs are still hindered by the absence of quality in customer data collected. More than half of CMOs say they rarely or never use big data to make marketing decisions and lack access to technology systems that would allow for a single view of the customer.
To alleviate these challenges, forward-thinking marketers are turning to technology to deliver effective customer engagement. This means CMOs must embrace their relationship with the CIO. More than half of marketers now view this relationship as essential, up from 30% in 2011, with 41% sharing a common vision with their CIO of how marketing and technology teams should work together. But evolved CMOs won’t stop there.
Leading marketers will continue to push the envelope. In fact, more than half of the CMOs surveyed point to identifying and building awareness of new technology as the number one competency to improve in 2014.
“In the age of the customer, newly empowered consumers are in the driver’s seat. So, a customer obsession is the most important strategic imperative for the CMO,” says Forrester vice-president and principal analyst Sheryl Pattek.
“As a result, the key for marketers in 2014 will be ramping up effective technology across the marketing organisation to create actionable data-driven insights. Those who don’t lead this charge will risk getting left far behind.”