Top 3 Areas of Focus For CMOs Heading Into 2019
As marketers, we have to fight now more than ever to grab our audience’s attention. The average adult in the US spends over 6 hours per day engaging with some type of digital media. With increasing interaction across the variety of digital platforms comes a decreasing consumer attention span.
Like most CMO’s around the country, you are probably stuck asking yourself, “how am I supposed to keep up with the changing consumption habits of today’s digital consumers?”
To answer this question, The Trade Desk recently interviewed nearly 300 global CMOs in organizations across a wide array of industries about the future of marketing. To no surprise, the results indicate that as the digital landscape continues to evolve, so does the function and responsibilities of the CMO role.
Here are the top areas of focus for CMOs heading into 2019:
Leverage technology to improve efficiency and ROI
With 86% of CMOs increasing their technology budgets next year comes increased pressure to not only improve efficiency but also further prove marketing’s ROI. Research indicates that highest performing marketers are drilling in on the stages of the customer journey and making quick shifts and adaptations to new technologies, data, and digital platforms that will optimize their performance.
Of course, choosing the right technologies to invest in is only half the battle. A/B testing isn’t going anywhere in 2019 as after implementation comes extensive analysis of the technological performances, efficiencies and most importantly, ROI.
Have a common source of data across all channels
Accurate data can affect everything from a CMO’s accountability to the overall business growth. Top CMOs suggests the same data pool should be utilized across the business to create appropriate goals for everything from brand purchasing, decision, and customer loyalty. Most companies today make decisions based on data-driven results and using unified data is critical to marketing success.
Not only does data tie back into the importance of investing into appropriate technologies, but in order to reach goals, it also requires CMOs to work closely with other executive members, especially the CTO and CEO. These partnerships allow the CMO to drive growth in numerous ways- they can increase the level of trust in the data, improve access to necessary data and ensure that the marketing team has enough customer data to do their jobs efficiently.
Meet consumers where they are at
Where are your consumers at? The answer is everywhere, and it’s our job to meet them there. As consumers hold on to traditional media such as television and two-thirds being active on multiple social media platforms, the rapidly changing media habits of consumers are a top challenge for CMOs going into 2019.
Once again, technology comes into play here. CMOs are prioritizing the customer experience by investing in technologies such as programmatic buying, digital targeting, location-based buying and pre-rolls to more effectively track the customer’s individual buying journey and reach each consumer exactly where they are at. It’s well worth it, as the vast majority of new customer growth stems from an excellent customer experience.
The digital world continues to disrupt the business environment and enhance customer expectations. The challenges this brings to CMOs and marketing departments include touching more areas of the business, having more accountability for the customer journey and tracking revenue growth, while also making it more difficult to showcase marketing’s enterprise value. In the end, it is crucial for CMOs to continue evolving, furthering their knowledge of digital landscapes that impact marketing strategies, and validating the connection between the actions of the marketing team, the organization’s bottom line, and brand advocates who are much more than just consumers today!
