“In Their Words: B2B Tech CMOs on What’s Next” includes interviews with marketing leaders from companies like Microsoft, Salesforce , Atos, TCS and SAP.
Siegel+Gale interviewed 16 marketing leaders from 10 countries, predominantly from the UK and US. In total there were eight trends that were taken away from the research. These trends included:
- The impact of Covid-19 on B2B tech. firms is hugely varied.
- Firms know how critical a role they now play in keeping the economy going.
- How firms market and sell is changing profoundly and likely permanently.
- Marketing is performing an increasingly integral role
- Purpose matters more than ever.
- 2020 has taken leaders to places they’ve never been before.
- Leading with empathy deepens customer relationships and simplifies strategies.
- Persevering in the present, with one eye on the future
James Withney, executive Director, EMEA, Siegel+Gale, explained that the 30 to 45 minute conversations were meant to give a much fuller understanding of what marketing leaders have been through this year.
He said: “You get a complete picture of what companies and people are experiencing and you get more emotion as well. Processing this all in a set of numbers doesn’t necessarily reveal the full richness of the conversations of the experiences.”
Whether it was leading with empathy or focusing on brand purpose, leadership was a common talking point for leaders. James said many leaders prior to this year had relied on focus groups, surveys, data and historical precedence to make their decisions. However, that quickly shifted in leaders having to embrace that discomfort.
James said: “You have to rely on your intuition and your gut instinct as a leader. And where purpose has come in useful for many people is in helping them make choices in those situations and helping them validate their intuition by linking that up for what is really right and important. Purpose has become so much more useful.”
The report follows hot on the heels of another CMO report from Siegel+Gale, which spoke to Goldman Sachs, SAP Western Union and many others. That report can be read by clicking here.
