2014 marketing pulse survey

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Marketing Pulse Survey 2014


Introduction Korn Ferry’s Marketing Center of Expertise surveyed 215 CMOs and senior marketing leaders. The Marketing Pulse Survey asked a variety of questions, ranging from talent development to customer engagement trends and data analytics. The survey set out to determine the foremost issues facing CMOs and top marketers and to create a baseline of sentiment among marketing executives tackling the big issues of today. Similar to the last year’s survey, we have aggregated top marketing executives’ opinions on the key business issues impacting their companies and jobs in order to provide us with a pulse of what is driving marketing decisions in the C-suite. Today, there is increased pressure put on marketers to demonstrate that their work directly contributes to bottom-line results. The tactics available to execute against that goal are expanding daily. Knowing where marketers are focusing their resources and which technologies and standards they are employing will help create a clearer picture of the marketing landscape.

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Today’s CMOs are putting increased dollars towards content marketing, signaling that businesses are once again allocating more resources towards their marketing efforts. However, as marketing spend increases, the survey finds that the inability to directly connect marketing efforts to tangible business outcomes may be a large contributor to the historically high CMO turnover rates. Also impacting high turnover among CMOs is the inability to align marketing deliverables with CEO objectives, the inability to drive organizational change and the inability to deliver timely results.

Has your organization increased its spend on content marketing? 20% Yes No

80%

What do you feel is the biggest contributing factor to low CMO tenure when compared to other C-Suite functions?

17.2% 8.8% 56.7%

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Inability to align marketing deliverables with CEO objectives Inability to deliver timely results Inability to drive organizational change

17.2%

Inability to directly connect marketing efforts to tangible business outcomes


Despite increased budgetary pressures, the survey revealed customer engagement is what keeps most marketers up at night. Specifically, the ability to create sustainable and engaging customer relationships while improving the customer experience is the top concern, followed by staying ahead of and taking advantage of digital opportunities, demonstrating marketing’s ROI and aligning marketing with the overall business strategy.

What keeps you up at night?

27.0%

34.0%

Aligning marketing with the overall business strategy

12.6% 26.5%

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Ability to demonstrate marketing’s ROI

Staying ahead and taking advantage of the digital technology trends (social, mobile) Creating sustainable and engaging customer relationships and improving the customer experience


While the marketing function remains primarily responsible for the aftermarket customer experience, developing a successful platform requires marketers to work cohesively across various departments of an organization. With this cross-function collaboration comes challenges. The survey shows that the biggest hurdle when working with other functions is aligning the different department strategies followed closely by integrating the customer experience across all available sales channels. Surprisingly, however, when asked what the most sought after specialized skill was for a marketer, customer relationship management came in at the bottom. According to respondents, digital marketing and analytical thinking are the two most desired competencies for today’s marketers.

What is the biggest hurdle when working with other functions to develop an integrated customer experience?

13.9%

8.7% 8.7%

Leveraging big data Creating customer engagement Aligning department strategies and priorities

26.0% 42.8%

Integrating the customer experience across the various sales channels Developing seamless messaging across different communication channels

Which department within the organization is most responsible for the aftermarket customer experience? 0.5% 9.8% Marketing

15.3%

39.5%

Operations Sales No one

34.9%

5

Communications


What is the most sought after specialized skill within the marketing function?

15.8%

30.2%

Analytical thinking Digital marketing

21.4%

Strategic planning Customer relationship management

32.6%

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The industry is facing a growing list of channels in which to reach customers. As social media continues to fuel customer interaction, it comes as little surprise that an overwhelming majority of respondents saw an increase in their social media spending for 2014. With numerous platforms available, marketers must determine which ones will be most beneficial to achieving their goals.

How much of your overall 2014 marketing budget goes toward social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google ads, etc.)? 5.6%

2.3%

0.9%

20.5%

0-25%

17.2%

Is this an increase or decrease from 2013?

Increase

25-50%

Stayed the same

50-75%

76.3%

77.2%

Decrease

Over 75%

Please select all of the marketing channels that your organization uses to engage with customers: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

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Twitter Facebk LinkedIn E-mail alerts

E-mail newsletters

Mobile Loyalty Events Print Print Online TV Promo comm. programs mailers adverts. adverts. adverts. events

Cust. svc.

Sales team

Other emps.


As organizations have increased access to large amounts of data that help drive their business strategies, the overwhelming majority of respondents have increased their use of predictive analytics and big data tools in the last year. From a marketing perspective, the majority of respondents say analytics can be most effective when measuring business outcomes of creative programs and leveraging consumer data to support intuitive hypotheses.

By what percentage do you expect your company to increase the use of predictive analytics and Big Data tools this year?

20.5%

Up to 25% increase 25% to 50% increase

4.2% 52.6%

3.7%

50% to 75% increase 75% to 100% increase

19.1%

I do not expect to increase spend in this area

For your team, what has been the most effective application for analytics? 3.7%

23.7%

Measuring business outcomes of creative programs

39.1%

Leveraging consumer data to support intuitive hypothesis Personalizing the customer experience Predicting future trends

33.5%

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With marketers more ingrained in their organizations’ overall business plans than ever before, more boards are turning to them for their unique perspective and expertise. Nearly half of all survey respondents currently serve on an outside board, but it’s not only marketing spend and ROI or customer strategy that they advise most on – it’s overall business strategy, as well. While marketing strategies are still a large part of a CMOs role on a corporate board, their ability to be learning agile lends itself to much broader roles and responsibilities.

Do you serve on an outside board?

42.3%

Yes No

57.7%

If yes, in your board member role which of the following do you advise on? 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

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Business strategy

Customer strategy

Social and Customer Marketing Customer Product digital experience spend/ROI insights/ development strategy data/ analytics


Korn Ferry’s CMO Center of Expertise Korn Ferry’s Global Marketing Center of Expertise focuses on helping organizations attract, develop, and retain best-in-breed talent for Chief Marketing Officers and other senior marketing leaders. Located in key business centers around the globe, our team has worked in and with the world’s leading companies and has specialized knowledge of the nuances of different marketing roles and leaders. In conjunction with industry specialists, they partner with clients on the “upfront diagnosis” to connect the business mandate to the deliverables of the role and the definition of the specific candidate profile and success factors, including measurable leadership competencies. By aligning the business agenda with CMO success factors, we help you ensure that your CMO and senior marketers are the right leaders to drive your strategic goals. Beyond strategic search, they also partner with our Leadership Consultants across the talent management continuum to help clients identify their Marketing leaders’ potential, drive development, accelerate readiness, and energize transitions. We are the only firm that can help you identify internal and external CMO talent, measure Learning Agility, and develop, design, and align learning agile marketing teams.

About Korn Ferry At Korn Ferry, we design, build, attract and ignite talent. Since our inception, clients have trusted us to help recruit world-class leadership. Today, we are a single source for leadership and talent consulting services to empower businesses and leaders to reach their goals. Our solutions range from executive recruitment and leadership development programs, to enterprise learning, succession planning and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). Visit www.kornferry.com for more information on Korn Ferry, and www.kornferryinstitute.com for thought leadership, intellectual property and research.


Caren M. Fleit is a Senior Client Partner and Leader of Korn Ferry’s Global Marketing Center of Expertise. Based in New York, Ms. Fleit focuses on recruiting senior executives for marketing-driven and customerfocused companies, with a concentration on imageoriented retail, consumer goods and services businesses, and the B-to-B companies that partner with them. Within this arena, her search assignments span the executive suite, with an emphasis on general management, senior marketing, senior sales and senior operations positions. She also leads senior marketing assignments across industry verticals.

Additional key contacts: Amy Young – Atlanta

John Kuper - Philadelphia

Anne Park Hopkins – Atlanta

Julie Forman – Montreal

Becky Stein – San Francisco

Kate Wright – Melbourne

David Barnes - Princeton

Katherine Lee - New York

Eduardo Latham – Miami

Keith Feldman - San Francisco

EJ Chae - Singapore

Marc Gasperino - New York

Elaine Dinos – Atlanta

Oliver Dange* - Frankfurt

Eve Nam - Newport Beach

Peri Hansen - Los Angeles

Elektra Mararian - Singapore

Philiep Dedrijvere* - Amsterdam & Brussels

Jacques Amey - Geneva

Richard Sumner – London

Jane Stevenson – Atlanta

Sue Ribot - Reston

Jeff Hocking – San Francisco

Tierney Remick – Chicago

Jennifer DeCastro – New York

Yves Moyen - Sao Paulo

* Co-leader, Marketing Center of Expertise, Europe.


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