cmo pulse survey
TRANSCRIPT
CMO Pulse Survey 2018
How effectively has the marketing organization been able to tie their results to company performance?
Which items are most important to your bonus?
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Korn Ferry’s Global Marketing Officers Practice surveyed 220 Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) on a variety of topics to understand their perspective on the role and the major trends impacting the marketing function.
The 2018 CMO Pulse Survey found the majority of CMOs (52 percent) say they cannot make a direct and obvious correlation between marketing efforts and company performance. This despite the fact that the survey found financial performance is rated as the most important factor in determining CMO performance-based compensation.
Extremely well, obvious and direct connectionVery wellSomewhatPoorlyNot at all
52%
13%
35%
38%
11%
3%
Financial PerformanceLeadership & ManagementCustomer SatisfactionBrand HealthStrategic StewardshipTalent Management
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
20%
10%
30%
40%
50%
45%
16% 13% 12% 10% 4%
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Which of the following marketing functions is in the greatest need of advancement?
Which of the following areas will be the most important to progressing the marketing function in the future? (Both entry level/college hiring and mid-level)
“Today’s marketers have more data and analytics than ever before, so it would seem they should be able to tie their efforts directly to the success of the company,” said Caren Fleit, managing director, Korn Ferry Global Marketing Officers Practice. “Unfortunately, many measure the effectiveness of initiatives only in terms of marketing metrics and miss the opportunity to connect it to overall business performance as measured in terms of sales and profit, among other factors.”
When asked what the greatest need is to advance the marketing function, the largest percentage said analytics (39 percent), and when asked what would be most important to progressing the function in the future, the vast majority (84 percent) cited finding the right talent to help with digital transformation, including data science, digital technology, content creation and social community management.
05
10152025303540
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
Analytics Personalization Brand CRM Creative Other
39%
30%
12%9%
5% 5%
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
DataScience
DigitalTechnology
ContentCreation
SocialCommunity
Management
CRM Other Creative MediaExpertise
45%
19%
11% 9% 6%4% 3% 2%
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“With intense competition for qualified digital talent, the CMO and CHRO need to work hand in glove to understand what digital skills are needed for now and the future, best define roles and structure, facilitate the right culture and create an employer brand that will help attract and retain these highly valuable and sought-after employees,” said Fleit.
According to the survey, marketers are looking beyond their function to increase their effectiveness. Nearly half (43 percent) said better organizational alignment would make them more effective. Only 17 percent said an increased budget and 4 percent said more authority would top the list of making them better at their jobs.
“Increasingly, CMOs and their teams are being tasked with leading transformation and growth efforts, which won’t be successful if they aren’t able to align strategy and direction with the rest of the C-Suite to harness the full power of the entire organization,” said Fleit.
What would make you more effective at your job?
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
35%
25%
15%
5%
45%
Organizationalalignment
Moreresources
Increasedbudget
A dierentCEO
Moreauthority
43%
19% 17% 16%5%
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The CEO/CMO RelationshipThere is still work to be done in helping make the CMO’s role understood. More than one-quarter (29 percent) of respondents say the CEO doesn’t understand the CMO role. Top reasons why include: CEO doesn’t understand complexity of brand building; CEO doesn’t understand the importance of a customer-centric approach; and the CEO doesn’t understand the correlation between marketing and revenue generation.
“The relationship between the CMO and the CEO is critical, and CMOs should work to be transparent and seek CEO input on key initiatives early and often, and ensure there is alignment on what success looks like and in what time frame,” said Fleit. “For their part, CEOs need to position marketing as a key business driver rather than a cost center and ensure they have a CMO that can embody that role. If they are tasking the CMO with helping the organization to become more customer centric or with another major change or growth agenda, they need to ensure that the rest of the organization is on board with the agenda and clearly understands the CMO’s pivotal leadership role.”
If the CEO does not fully understand the CMO function, where is the disconnect?
0
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
21%
17% 17%16%
14%12%
4%
CEO underestimates complexity of brand-building
CEO doesn’t understand the importance of a customer-centric approach
CEO doesn’t understand the connection betweenmarketing and revenue generation
CEO doesn’t understand analytical aspects of theCMO function
CEO doesn’t see ROI of the CMO position
CEO expects CMO to be the sole driver of transformation
Other
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Organizational Purpose Not AlignedFinally, the survey found a critical need for taking organizational purpose to the next level. The vast majority of respondents (85 percent) agreed their company has a clear and well-articulated purpose, yet only just over two-thirds (69 percent) said the purpose was authentic and aligned with the way the company is really working. In addition, 49 percent said the purpose was not understood or embraced by employees. “In order to be both customer centric and an employer of choice, organizations need to live out their purpose in all interactions and initiatives,” said Fleit.
Extremely well, obvious and direct connectionVery wellSomewhatPoorlyNot at all
Yes
No
Yes
No
52%
85%
15%31%
69%
13%
35%
38%
11%
3%
Fully embracedVery wellSomewhatPoorlyNot at all
49%
14%
37%
2%
39%
8%
Extremely well, obvious and direct connectionVery wellSomewhatPoorlyNot at all
Yes
No
Yes
No
52%
85%
15%31%
69%
13%
35%
38%
11%
3%
Does your organization have a clear and well-articulated purpose?
Is your organization’s purpose understood and embraced internally by employees?
Is the stated purpose authentic and aligned with the company’s way of operating?
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About the SurveyThe global survey of 220 CMOs and marketing leaders took place in late 2017. Please note, percentages do not always equal 100 percent due to rounding.
About Korn FerryKorn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm. We help companies design their organization—the structure, the roles and responsibilities, as well as how they compensate, develop and motivate their people. As importantly, we help organizations select and hire the talent they need to execute their strategy. Our approximately 7,000 colleagues serve clients in more than 50 countries.
About Korn Ferry’s Marketing Officers PracticeKorn Ferry’s Chief Marketing Officers Practice helps CMOs and their organizations deliver the corporate goals of their companies. Our solutions are designed to help CMOs transform the marketing function into a curious, agile, performance-oriented and purposeful function. In addition to recruitment across the function, the practice leverages solutions in areas such as, team optimization, assessing and developing evolving leadership capabilities and organizational structure, workforces, etc. We help CEOs and their organizations identify the marketing talent best suited to the specific paradigm of their business. Across industries, the marketing function is rapidly and continually changing and it is critical to understand what type of marketer is best suited to address an organization’s unique business challenges. Our expert practitioners serve as trusted advisors for our clients across a wide array of industries, all regions, and for companies large and small, public, PE-backed and family-run. The practice operates as an interconnected, highly collaborative global community of seasoned partners and associates steeped in the subtleties of the marketing function. The numbers speak for themselves: in just the past five years over 2,000 companies chose us to partner with them on marketing work.