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Growth is a Complex Game for Marketers

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Growth is a collective endeavor, with many organizations managing different growth-focused projects simultaneously.

This influences Marketing professionals, spending increased portions of their time working with other teams outside their own department.

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But despite this, Gartner flags that 84% of marketers report experiencing high ‘collaboration drag’ from cross-functional work.

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Enhanced executive cooperation, reduced organizational silos and the introduction of cross-functional roles and systems can partially solve the problem.

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A game-changer approach would involve redefining the overall Marketing influence inside each organization, starting from their leadership.  

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Marketing as a Catalytical Force for Company's Transformation

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Today, the boundaries within the C-suite are increasingly fluid, and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) have the chance to emerge as key innovators, strategists, and drivers of growth. The contemporary CMOs integrate their impact throughout the executive suite, offering strategic support to every aspect of the organization.

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Whether it is collaborating with the CEO to articulate the company's narrative or partnering with the CIO to leverage new technological capabilities, CMOs are pivotal in spearheading transformation.  

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The relationship with other C-suite members has always been vital for CMOs, but its importance increases with each passing year. As the role of marketing and its challenges evolve, having a deep alliance within the C-suite (especially CEOs and CFOs) is essential.  

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Despite this, according to a recent PwC research, only 54% of CMOs strongly agree that the value of marketing is understood by key decision-makers inside the company. This leads to an increasing need for demonstrating impact and influence.

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What are the Main Internal Challenges for CMOs in 2024?

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It's no secret that the Marketing Department is often seen as an internal facilitator for cross-functional projects and roadmaps.

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Nevertheless, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) need to refine marketing workflows and modify change management strategies to lighten their teams' workload.

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It is important for marketing executives to define the boundaries of their teams' responsibilities for specific projects, enable their members to decline non-essential collaborative tasks, and focus their efforts where marketing can make the most significant contribution.  

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But what are the internal themes and dynamics that are top of mind for global marketing leaders as we approach the second half of the year?  

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At MINT, we have identified the following 7 recurring drivers that are shaping Marketing impact and influence in 2024.

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1. Showing Short Term Impact on Revenue

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As shared by Gartner in their recent press release, the average Marketing budgets have reached 7.7% of company revenues in 2024, with an outstanding –15% in comparison to 2023. This situation led to a significant transformation in Marketing investment approaches, driven by constrained budgets and increased ambitions for growth.

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Paid media investments grew to 27.9% of budget in 2024. According to analysts, this approach testifies that CMOs are focusing more on media expenditures in their efforts to boost revenue, selectively investing in areas that yield tangible results.

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This was also confirmed by a recent Modern's report: 75% of CMOs stated that driving revenue and short-term growth is at the top of their priority list in 2024.

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2. Active Participation in Technology Procurement  

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While paid media investments show a +20% growth since 2018, Marketing spend on technology hit a 10-year low at 23.8% of total budgets (-18% since 2018).

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According to several sources, a decrease in martech spending does not indicate a reduced interest in technology; instead, it shows a waning authority of CMOs over martech in comparison to other leaders within the organization, like those in IT, Strategy, Procurement or Finance, who start to exert greater influence.

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Influencing tech-stack purchases should be considered a strong sign of influence and impact for CMOs.

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3. Setting Standards for AI Adoption

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In 2023, AI and automation dominated industry headlines, but now, Chief Marketing Officers are tasked with crafting their organizations’ specific approaches to utilizing AI.

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Many executives are optimistic about the efficiency gains from using AI.

On the other hand, some CMOs have reservations regarding the implications for their brand and workforce.  

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Incorporating AI should be directed to augment human capabilities rather than overshadow them: Marketing executives are pioneering the use of advanced generative AI, which enables more precise personalization and enriched customer experiences, enhancing pipeline conversion and accelerating value realization.

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Furthermore, as AI-enhanced data analytics evolve, marketers may gain critical insights into campaign effectiveness and program management, helping to lower customer acquisition costs and boost investment returns.

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A vast majority of enterprise martech users consider integration capabilities as the most critical feature of AI tools. The primary goal for most Marketing leaders should then be focused on optimizing platform usage, dismantling siloes and barriers, and enhancing the connectivity among these tools to significantly increase return on investment (ROI) and promote team's engagement.

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4. Crafting AI-enabled Marketing Teams

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22% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) indicate insufficient knowledge and resistance to change within their marketing teams as major obstacles to fully leveraging martech stacks.

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As CMOs aim to invest in AI and marketing automation this year, they must address gaps in internal expertise to fully appreciate the benefits of these platforms. Automated processes save time, minimize mistakes, and maintain uniform communication across different platforms.

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Enhancing team skills through expanded training and education on automation tools will be essential. Additionally, martech vendors need to play a part by offering more hands-on guidance and resources on best practices, as CMOs will depend on their support for training and knowledge.

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By focusing internally and seeking robust support from tech partners, CMOs can strive to bridge the skills gap in marketing automation.

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5. Promoting Internal Data Cleansing and Validation

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According to the latest IAB State of Data 2024, half to 60% of companies are losing confidence in the accuracy of data received from key ad partners.

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Disorganized data poses a significant risk to marketing effectiveness.

Multiple data streams from various origins may collide, creating a challenging environment for teams.

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The main concern is data reliability. Issues like incomplete records, input errors, redundancies, and outdated information exacerbate this problem.

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Unreliable data results in poor decision-making, ineffective campaigns, and wasted marketing funds: Marketing should adopt a proactive approach to data cleansing to help avoid data degradation.

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Establishing data governance structures, conducting regular data quality assessments, utilizing data cleansing technologies and cultivating a team culture focused on data integrity should be on top of Marketing priorities and a high-level initiative.

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6. Growing First-party Data Assets

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In a world without cookies, it's crucial to prioritize gathering first-party data directly from your audience.

This approach is now the benchmark, providing valuable insights while preserving users' privacy.

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This necessitates enhancing data collection methods. Marketing teams are focusing on Implement surveys, host events, provide compelling content, establish a community, improve the company’s website, launch VoC (Voice of Customers) programs, optimize CRM systems and more to secure these critical first-party insights.

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As discussed in our previous article, Chief Marketing Officers who heavily rely on advertising are now turning their attention to new strategies to overcome cookie-blindness.

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7. Optimizing Ineffective Ad Spend  

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Wasteful advertising spending is a significant problem in marketing.  

A new study by InMarket, in cooperation with the CMO Council, shows that under-performing advertisers have an opportunity to optimize over 75% of their media spend.

The research indicates that top-performing brand advertisers, who consistently refine their campaigns through detailed analytics to pinpoint the aspects that boost sales, achieve up to an 11-fold increase in advertising effectiveness compared to competitors who implement real-time, in-flight optimization randomly or superficially.

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Lack of monitoring or evaluation of campaign effectiveness is a key factor for wasteful spending: without proper analytics and tools, and the readiness to adjust strategies when they are not successful, advertising budget can be depleted by ineffective campaigns.

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Continuous campaign optimization supported by AI is a non-negotiable item directly connected to Marketing impact and influence.

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Redefining Marketing as a Growth Engine

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In 2024, investments in cutting-edge technologies such as predictive analytics and account-based marketing, fueled by reliable first-party data, will be crucial for enhancing pipeline and conversion rates. Nonetheless, Chief Marketing Officers need to ensure a balance between these immediate lead generation successes and long-term objectives.

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Gone are the days of compartmentalized operations. The trend now favors integrated and collaborative environments.

This change promotes a culture of unrestricted information exchange, enabling all departments to contribute to the company's broad objectives.

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Embracing this unified method redefines marketing from an isolated role to a pivotal growth engine. By leveraging insights, aligning goals, and equipping every team member with essential knowledge, Marketing has the power to facilitate a concerted effort where the achievements of one department bolster others, fostering a cycle of growth and profitability.

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Marketing leaders should foster cohesion with sales, product development, and customer services, among others.

This cohesion allows for the collaborative use of data, insights, and feedback to better discern customer needs and market dynamics.

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The outcome is the development of corporate and functional team strategies that place the customer at the heart of every interaction and touchpoint, strengthen the brand, and help hitting revenue goals.

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Interested in finding a new growth partner for your marketing team and cross-functional initiatives?  

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Get in touch with a MINT representative for a dedicated demo of our ARM for Brands solution.

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