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Let's kick off our first insightful and brutally honest article about the challenges and trends Marketing Managers and CMOs will inevitably face in 2023 - shall we? Hopefully, by understanding these challenges and trends, you'll be better equipped to meet them head-on:
1. A data-driven approach is still a big thing
The data-driven Marketing Manager role is more important than ever. Understanding consumer behavior is an important and necessary piece of the puzzle, but data goes beyond that to offer a deeper understanding for marketers and their colleagues alike.
However, data alone won't be enough - creativity will always remain the backbone of great marketing, encouraging CMOs and Marketers to re-think the boundaries of creative innovation. This means exploring new channels and forging new partnerships with technology and data specialists.
On top of this, data also promotes a culture of iterative testing - constantly optimizing with data in order to improve customer experience. Great modern day CMOs must thus also be agile and have a growth-oriented mindset to cultivate lasting partnerships with fellow executives, understand what they need and communicate what they need from them all whilst focusing on these needs.
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2. Being transparent is inevitable
It's become increasingly clear that transparency is more valued by customers and employees than ever before. Companies no longer get away with hiding behind the corporate veil as trust is now the cornerstone of transparency.
At one level, transparency enables efficient use of marketing budgets from the company's perspective; 13% of CMOs report securing a budget to be among the most challenging tasks they face, requiring a focus on ROI. This is transparency from a financial and strategic communications perspective. At another, transparency requires authenticity in communication which when broken can cost companies customers quicker than anything else. This speaks to transparency from an advertising communications standpoint and it’s where CMOs have tremendous power in pushing for transparency at every level - an attribute whose financial benefit is undeniable.
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3. Understand that marketing is no longer an isolated department
Having a great customer journey right from the start is pointless if the product doesn’t live up to expectations, so there has never been more emphasis on bridging company sections together than now.
Today’s CMOs are no longer just focusing on the marketing side of things. Instead, they need to plug into product development, sales and other customer-oriented departments in order to manage customer experience better. Research done by IBM found that reducing costs through cross-functional collaboration had a direct link, and this further emphasizes how pivotal this strategy is to reducing operational expenditure.
It also goes without saying that having a great customer journey right from the start is pointless if the product doesn’t live up to expectations, so there has never been more emphasis on bridging company sections together than now. As a result of the digital realm becoming the new heaven for customer engagement, the role of the CMO has extended much further beyond earlier roles and it’s now on them to have full end-to-end control over things such as packaging and pricing. They are truly seen as change agents in every aspect of their organization, with many setting up Customer Experience representatives in many different areas of business as a way for them to get real time feedback from customers on scales.
Be the CMO of the future.
Gone are the days of what used to pass as marketing. You, as the CMO of the future needs to be prepared to tackle a transformed industry, complete with new strategies and technology empowered by data. Crafting bullet-proof campaigns and delivering accurate results requires more sophistication than ever before. Only then can CMOs gain the insights necessary to develop an effective approach – one that connects their brand with audiences on a global level like never before.
Is your marketing plan bullet-proof? Well done! If you still need support, I am here to help.👋🏼
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