Last updated on September 11th, 2015 at 02:49 pm
The role of the CMO is becoming more important and their focus is shifting towards enhancing the customer experience across the entire buyer’s journey, according to a new study by The CMO Club.
CMOs are also starting to allocate funds towards all stages of the buyer’s journey, rather than just on acquisition which is what was typically done in the past.
The study surveyed 100 CMO Club members and also includes insights from the marketing heads of eight global brands.
One of the key findings of the study was that 57 percent of CMOs expect their budgets to increase over the next two or three years, and 53 percent are spending their budget dollars on all stages of the buyers journey in an effort to increase revenue potential.
B2Bnn took some time to speak with CMO Club founder Pete Krainik about the study for this take on where things are headed, and why they have become they way they are.
“If you look at it now versus then, it was more campaign driven and you were isolated (back then),” he says.
“Now with the world changing and the way people are shopping, B2B or B2C and online, there’s this whole focus on the changing customer journey and all of a sudden companies are like, ‘Uh-oh, customer experience matters. People that are upset about our service are complaining online. It’s hurting our business. Help!”
CMOs are using frequent experimentation to figure out the best approach. Marketing used to be very unidirectional, but now the user experience reaches across multiple platforms so CMOs have the challenge of making that experience as good as it can be across social, mobile, the web. Traditional media like print and TV are still relevant, and right now there is a 52/48 split between digital and traditional.
The adage “content is king” is indeed true. Content generation gets the most budget dollars out of all the different advertising media. According to the study, 13 percent of the marketing budget goes to content and that is expected to increase as processes become more digital.
“There are still lots of issues and challenges around developing content, and brand development in the customer base,” Krainik says. “There are still lots of strategies around the content piece distribution, development distribution around different channels, but it’s not 100 percent nailed yet. When people do it right, they see the biggest results there and focus on it.”
“Think about how you buy something. Are you going to make your decision based on an ad, or are you going to buy something based on five people telling you this is the best brand?” he says.
Facebook, he says, is another big player that is becoming more important as a search engine and sales lead generation tool.
With digital and social media, the buyer’s journey is different than it used to be and all stages are seen as equally important. Quality content generation and good data analytics are two of the keys that CMOs have to master to be successful in the new marketing world.
Main photo via Wikimedia
