Publicly stated or not, leaders’ expectations – more specifically, CEOs’ expectations of their chief marketers – is one we explored in a wide-ranging study conducted by Stein IAS with the support of the Chief Executive Group. We plainly asked more than 300 CEOs: Is your CMO living up to expectations? Where are they performing and not? How much do you value marketing? Where can marketing really add value to the business?
I’ll be presenting the findings at the B2B Leaders Forum on September 24 at the Skyloft in London. As a preview, I’ve summarized a few of the top line findings below:
- 81% of CEOs surveyed say the importance of marketing has increased in recent years–and the same percentage say their expectations of marketing have gone up as well
- 67% say they are more involved in setting marketing strategy than in previous years
- 71% are more involved with thought leadership than in previous years
- 85% say agility and responsiveness are the most important attributes for marketing, but only 53% are satisfied with their marketing leadership in this area
- 82% rank customer expertise–knowing what customers want before they do–among marketing’s most important attributes, but only 49% are satisfied in this area
Those last two bullets hint at some troubling disconnects unearthed by the research. Dig a little deeper into the research, and a more troubling fact comes to light: CEOs and CMOs don’t appear to see eye-to-eye on the big game-changing areas of our professional discipline. It’s fascinating and valuable insight.
Join Tom and over 70 global senior client-side marketers at the B2B Leaders Forum on 24 September. Register your interest and secure your place now.
