For our report on how the role of the CMO has changed in recent years, we asked more than 60 CMOs about their current priorities and what they’re planning for 2020. Our interviews covered everything from iHeartMedia’s CMO talking about the digital transformation of radio to Ryan Dell taking men’s lifestyle brand MVMT from online to offline.
While the CMOs’ answers differed depending on their company, industry and tenure, many stressed the importance of team building, enacting growth through new channels and utilizing new technology to its fullest potential. Below are insights from six marketing leaders.
Jen Grant, CMO of Looker
One of our big priorities is regional marketing. We’re preparing the foundation for that right now, and [this year], it’ll continue to be our top priority.
We have the ability now to get much more targeted and efficient in how we apply our spend into the territories. We're using data to create regional dashboards, so I can sit down with the vice president of enterprise sales for Texas and say, 'This is what Texas looks like. We're seeing that there's not enough marketing qualified leads [MQLs] in this region.' This means that marketing will now work on building awareness and top of the funnel.
Compare that to New York: "In New York we've got lots of top of funnel, lots of people coming in, but they're not closing, so let’s do some closing dinners in New York."
2020 is all about implementing that regional, data-driven marketing that we've been dreaming about for a long time.
Charlie Cole, Chief eCommerce Officer of Samsonite Brands
I've been in this gig for a little under three years. When I think back to year one, it was about making sure we have the right people in the right places and being set up for success. Year two was about the basics: We’ve aligned on KPIs and larger strategy, and we've seen very good results.
Now, it's year three. It's about asking much more thoughtful and critical questions and frankly, changing how the organization thinks. That is not a light switch. For example, we're reevaluating how we think about marketing spend in a larger way. Should we have set budgets, or should we have an ROI target and be willing to spend as much money as we want? These are really big transforming questions that we're starting to take on.