With increased pressure to deliver growth and support cross-functional work, Gartner has identified three priorities for CMOs to deliver marketing excellence in 2025.
These priorities include:
- Transcending disruption by bridging the gap between marketing strategy and operations
- Elevating enterprise-wide impact by leading marketing to deliver differentiation
- Maximising marketing’s yield by prioritizing customer journey investments
“Marketing faces extraordinary expectations heading into 2025, and CMOs cannot risk incremental change when the enterprise expects transformative results,” says Ewan McIntyre, vice-president analyst and the chief of research for the Gartner Marketing Practice.
“A sharp focus on marketing excellence is key. By applying the resources CMOs have with ever greater vision and discipline, they will earn the confidence of the business to expand their leadership and stewardship of resources.”
In a survey of 395 CMOs conducted in February and March 2024, respondents said they devote almost 40% of their budget to activities focused on change and transformation. The problem is that constant disruption diverts attention from long-term goals. CMOs must identify where tactical thinking has replaced strategic discipline and dedicate resources to ongoing strategy management, such as staff time, training and tools.
“A strategy management capability is a self-funding investment. While managing strategy is a core part of the CMO role, it cannot happen without a supporting organizational capability,” said McIntyre.
Many CMOs are not fulfilling their growth potential – both in terms of delivering business results and maximising their leadership effectiveness. In a survey of 125 CEOs and CFOs conducted in August and September 2024, executive leaders reported that only 14% of CMOs are effective at market shaping, or influencing market dynamics by identifying and fulfilling unmet customer needs. Companies where CMOs are effective at market shaping are 2.6 times more likely to exceed revenue and profit goals.
Market shaping CMOs distinguish themselves from C-suite colleagues with their exceptional skill-level in data-based decision making, strategy management and market knowledge. These skills help CMOs make meaning from data and convert trends into visionary strategies.
“This is a different skill set than merely understanding or empathizing with the customer,” says Sharon Cantor Ceurvorst, vice-president: research in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “With customer data increasingly available to all functions, the CMO edge lies in knowing how to synthesize insight from an array of different sources to find opportunities for differentiation.”
With customer understanding being a significant driver of marketing-led growth, CMOs should be concerned that many customers feel misunderstood by brands. In a survey of over 6 000 US consumers conducted in July and August 2024, 58% reported that the companies trying to sell them something don’t have a good understanding of their needs and preferences. The consequence is that many marketing campaigns underperform, wasting budgets, resources and opportunity.
“What’s perplexing about this is that marketing has never had more access to data, or more technology tasked with building customer understanding and targeting messages. Right now, technology-driven customer engagement is at an inflection point,” says McIntyre. “The vast majority of marketing teams are accelerating AI initiatives; 95% of CMOs in 2024 reported that GenAI investments are a priority.”
CMOs must avoid the pitfalls of AI-driven excess and prioritize customer journey investments with the greatest economic return. A data- and hypothesis-led approach will help rebuild emotional connections with customers who are feeling misunderstood and drive a mutually productive growth engine.