The future of marketing belongs to marketing technologists. Scott Brinker and Laura McCLellan’s recent article in the Harvard Business Review, The Rise of the Chief Marketing Technologist clarifies the direction, role and roadmap Chief Marketing Technologists (CMT). It’s a great read and shows how marketing technologists are changing entire business models while making marketing more focused and effective.
Accenture’s 2014 CMO Insights survey results also illustrate just how quickly the era of the Chief Marketing Technologist has arrived. The key take-aways from the survey provide insights into which digital strategies are working, what skills are needed now and in the future to excel at marketing, and insights into how high-growth companies are using digital, analytics and mobile technologies to achieve their goals. Accenture has provided interactive survey results using Tableau Public here.
Key Take-Aways from the Accenture Interactive 2014 CMO Insights Survey are provided below:
- Analytics will be a core competence in marketing (42%), digital will account for over 75% of the marketing budget (37%), and mobile will account for over 50% of the marketing budget (35%) are the three areas that will change the most during the next five years according to CMOs. CMOs who grew up with digital technologies give more weight to mobile technologies as part of their digital marketing strategies (38%) compared to their seasoned counterparts (18%). The following graphic compares all areas of change (multiple responses were allowed):
- Emerging-market CMOs are significantly more likely to undertake the digital transformation of their businesses to reach marketing objectives versus their mature-market counterparts. 71% of emerging market CMOs say they would take on the digital transformation of their businesses versus 42% of their counterparts in mature markets. The following graphic compares methods CMOs consider for attaining their strategic marketing objectives over a two year time horizon.
- The most significant year-on-year improvements in digital channels include display advertising (10%), search engine optimization (9%), mobile (8%) and social media (8%). In-person contact with front-line employees (69%) and word of mouth (68%) lead the effectiveness rankings shown below.
- High growth companies are using analytics 86% of the time to accelerate, clarify and focus decision-making compared to 65% of companies in low-growth businesses. 84% of high growth companies also recognize the importance of digital channels compared to 67% of low-growth businesses.
- 78% of marketers believe that marketing will undergo a fundamental change in 5 years, becoming significantly more focused on digital, analytics and mobile technologies.
- 76% of marketing budgets in five years will be dedicated to digital marketing, with 69% of emerging market CMOs believing it is important to begin the transformation process into a digital business today.
- 39% of CMOs are spending more than $100M on digital marketing with 40% expecting their digital marketing budgets to rise by more than 5% in the next fiscal year. In high growth companies, 60% of CMOs expect their digital marketing budgets to increase.
- 89% of high growth companies place a high importance on customer experience compared to 60% of low growth counterparts. 79% of all CMOs say it is essential to deliver an effective customer experience, however only 63% think they are reaching their goals in this area. The graphic below compares the importance and how effective marketers are in delivering successful customer experiences.
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