Marketing Daily recently conducted an interview with The CMO Council’s Donovan Neale-May, who divulged some starting information. It appears that in a survey conducted by The CMO Council and the Boston Consulting Group of 1000 senior marketing execs, only 6% of respondents felt that their “go to market” capabilities were “very good.” Huh?
So much for laying the proper groundwork–you know–putting the proper strategies and tactics in place for bringing new products and services to market effectively. In an article titled CMO Council Survey Finds Inertia Among the Ranks, it was the opening paragraph that really got my attention… and kind of shook me up.
“Marketers are not taking advantage of all–or even many–of the tools available to them to create effective sales and marketing platforms. What’s more, they know it–and they’re not doing much about it.”
Now if that isn’t eye-opening enough, the study and article went on to disclose that “despite their acknowledged deficiencies, the majority of executives are unwilling to stray outside of their comfort zone.” Wow!
* 66% of respondents reported that they remain focused on traditional marketing, branding and promotional communications.
* Only 26% reported making inroads in better understanding their consumer targets was a priority.
* Only 14% cited retail and service execution was a priority.
Neale-May observed that the “same old” proven marketing strategies might be effective, it’s also important to embrace “innovative new approaches.”
You think? The results of this poll are staggering, when you consider how much the world has changed due to new technologies, communications platforms and well-informed consumers who talk to each other. Not only that: the huge increase in global competition.
What on earth are these marketers thinking?
Apparently, many of the marketers surveyed recognized a need for the following:
* 52% are modifying sales and marketing strategies for better results.
* 32% need to hire new talent.
* Yet these two areas are not a fiscal priority–58% cited these two initiatives would have to be financed from current budgets.
Not surprisingly, the survey found that a healthy 48% of executives surveyed stated they had “insufficient resources as a barrier to implementing successful programs”. 48% said they had “talent issues” and 35% cited “a gap between current and desired capabilities.”
As to the future focus for the marketers surveyed?
* 56% are focused on ‘talent management and performance’–85% reported that they are rating the success of their marketing programs via revenue growth. And 53% reported that customer acquisition and retention were employed as marketing measures.
* 52% are focusing on ‘business strategy’
* Only 14% are focusing on investing in new metrics
* Only 12% are focusing on technology and IT
* Only 20% are focusing on productivity
* Only 10% are focusing on channel development
In a nutshell, here are my observations/questions, and I’d love your input on my ruminations, as well:
* Do marketers have the luxury of hiding behind the conventional anymore? I don’t think so.
* Don’t you think it might be time for marketers to leave their comfort zones and initiate some new programs–investing in some new media approaches to reach their customers and engage them in some meaningful dialogue, for example?
* Were you struck, as I was, that marketers in this survey placed such a low emphasis gaining better customer insights?
* How about “Only 14% cited retail and service execution was a priority”? Am I the only one who thinks that’s deadly to business???
* How can 85% of respondents say they measure the success of their marketing efforts by revenue growth and place so little focus on their customers? Doesn’t it strike you that this survey points to an internal focus on “talent and implementing programs” if–sigh–we only had enough of a budget, rather than being customer-centric?
* Lastly, how can these marketers who really are paralyzed by inertia–as this survey indicates–expect to gain the respect of their CEOs, CFOs and company presidents, if this is their M.O.? I’m willing to bet these same marketers smart about “not having a seat at the big table” and “a lack of respect.”
What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.
Ted,
Part of the reason for staying with what CMOs have done in the past is fear of failure. Having seen this up close and personal, once we hit the executive ranks, the primary goal for many is to keep their job. That means taking risks is not part of the job description, so new tools and new strategies are frightening and, therefore, something to be avoided until those strategies and tactics become mainstream. Sad but true.
You’re right, Lewis. The unknown is daunting and risky to many. Better to stay with what is perceived to be “tried and true” for many execs. However, I’d like to point out that if the fear of losing their jobs is the driving force for many CMOs to resist trying new tools and ideas, I don’t think that’s a good excuse anymore. Let’s remember that the average tenure for CMOs now is 2 years or less with major companies. . .
So why resist new strategies and tactics if they are sound?
Thanks for weighing in, Lewis. I appreciate it.
Thanks Ted. This is useful info, butthe study does not surprise me one bit. For at least 20 years, we have experienced this type of thinking and if you look back, you will find that the companies and execs who did take some risks are generally more successful than ones who did not. Apple for instance.
When the stock market and short term gains dictate what companies should do and how they do it the results are scared executives.
I don’t expect that veteran, smart marketers like you and Lewis would be surprised by this study. . .but I’ll bet many other folks will be. Marketers and companies have to get out of the rut they’re in. Otherwise, they are going to fail. Historically, downturns in the economy are also filled with opportunity, as Lee Iacocca used to point out. . .Let’s see which companies take advantage of new tools and strategies out there and rise to the top.
Thanks, Harry, for adding your insights to this post.
And there are days that I wake up, see data like this, and get depressed that I’m in the field of marketing. When I was in the healthcare industry, the old yarn was “what’s changed in healthcare in the past 10 years?” Answer: not much. Sometimes it feels that way in marketing.
For similar data – along these lines from a Northwestern University study, see a post I wrote in January: http://d-cubed.blogspot.com/2008/01/if-youre-ineffective-and-you-know-it.html
All this said, I have hope in reading and seeing real case studies where a small percentage (~5%) of marketers are getting it and really moving the needle for their respective businesses.
I agree that at first, the results of this study might be a bit depressing. However, I’d like to think of it as a “wake-up call” for marketers who see themselves in this research. Getting this information out there, might spur some marketers to get moving. At least, it gives me reason to hope that this will have the effect. There are a number of bright lights among companies as a result of offering stellar products or services with great marketing behind them. I’m hoping marketers might take a page from some of those folks, as well.
Thanks for sharing your comments, Paul, and the information link you provided. Much appreciated.
What might be more disturbing is to consider WHY these folks didn’t put more emphasis on gaining better customer insights. Is it because they think they have enough information to make decisions? Is it because they have so much information they don’t know what to do with it, they just say to hell with it? Or is it because they think it’s just too difficult to get that kind of information–no one’s going to tell us what they really think so why bother to ask?
There was an article in Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/142632/output/print) last week about the burgeoning corporate psychic industry–apparently for $10K a month Fortune 500 companies are putting “business intuitives” on retainer to help answer questions about product launches and other investment decisions. It just seems business is preoccupied with these unscientific, anything-but-fact-based methods of making decisions–-I can’t help but wonder if frustration with the data and research they do have/have done is leading to the inertia you call out in your post. It might speak to how to build momentum for using customer insights again.
Corporate psychic industry? That’s a new one on me, Kevin. Wow, if some companies really are “preoccupied with these unscientific, anything-but-fact-based methods of making decisions”, to quote you, they’re in deep trouble!
I think there’s a combination of things going on here. First, many marketers are afraid of straying into unknown territory, as represented by implementing new ideas and strategies. Many are also queasy about new media, and not certain how far to go or which aspects of Web 2.0 to implement. As a result, they don’t do anything, preferring to play it safe. As Lewis pointed out, taking risks means sticking your neck out. Many execs are risk averse, as you know.
Companies are often guilty of collecting too much data, some of it irrelevant to understanding the consumer. No one in their right mind wants to even tackle much of that. Some truly great information is probably never digested, so it is never acted upon. Other companies collect too little data and work far too much “from the gut”, as fellow Daily Fix Paul Barsch has pointed out in his excellent posts.
Lastly, companies that are larger or have a significant number of years in business, tend to be slow to implement any real change. These kinds of operations tend to have echelons of management–and procedures–that have to be dealt with to put the stamp of approval on new initiatives. That takes considerable time and leads to real frustration for those who are willing to take the steps to break out of the mold, you know? Result? Many marketers just decide to “go with the proverbial flow”. They do what’s safe and what’s expected. They don’t fight it, and sometimes what is really needed is a fighter–someone who is willing to take a stand, and push forward. So, here’s hoping marketers use their guts–not to guess about what their customers really want and expect–but to take a much-needed stand and do the grunt work to really push their businesses ahead.
Thanks for adding a lot to this discussion, Kevin. Great stuff!
Interesting data but we are not surprised either. The marketing ignorance these days is pretty high!
Nick,
Sorry to hear that your experiences have likewise led you to not be surprised by these findings. Businesses really need to see a dramatic turn-around if they are going to succeed for the long haul. Again: I hope studies like these wake marketers out of their lethargy.
Thanks for adding your comments, Nick. I appreciate it.
The results jibe with many aspects of a 2008 Forrester report: The Evolved CMO. Top 3 Areas of Responsibility (at 90%+) for CMO survey respondents were 1. Brand strategy and positioning 2.Creative development 3. Advertising and communications. The lowest ranking for responsibility was Customer Service and Support – just a hair above 10%. How freaky is that? Anyway, you nailed it when you mentioned that CMOs are paralyzed. I think it’s because of their challenges with educating and influencing Senior Staff members. This is difficult to do and very time consuming. So, their top 3 areas of responsibility probably coincide with the priorities for Execs – most of whom may still believe in the old-school marketing of “SHOUTING AT” rather than “conversing with” existing and prospective customers.
Hi Ted.
I’m saddened and frustrated by these findings but not surprised. Unfortunately. I worked for a company who was progressive in many areas, but still didn’t see the value in digging deep with their current customers because they assumed they already knew them well.
That’s exactly the kind of narrowminded, entrenched tunnel vision that’s going to separate the men from the boys (or the women from the girls), so to speak.
I think it’s also symptomatic of companies being so overwhelmed with all of the new channels and avenues available to their marketing efforts that they stick within their comfort zone because they don’t know where to start. Sort of like looking at a disorganized garage and just shutting the door.
I for one am trying to help ease discomfort with my clients by starting with one new idea – just one – to prove that doing new things (even if they don’t work) is nothing but a beneficial learning experience.
It’s a long road, and I hope that the dialogue continues to evolve into two-way conversation vs. one-way broadcast.
Great food for thought. Thanks!
I’ll tell you, JP, the most disconcerting finding of this study: customer service seems to be such a low priority. Not only that: so was the emphasis on gaining better consumer insights. That’s just plain deadly to any business.
Then stating that customer acquisition and retention are used as “marketing measures” by 53% of executives in the survey doesn’t make any sense if service isn’t a top priority, does it?
Lastly, I’ll say that your observation that some marketers may still be: “”SHOUTING AT” rather than “conversing with” existing and prospective customers” is another great point. Time to stop, listen and learn about all of our customers, right?
Thanks for your insights, JP. They’re excellent and valued.
Hi Amber,
Your statement is dead on: “I think it’s also symptomatic of companies being so overwhelmed with all of the new channels and avenues available to their marketing efforts that they stick within their comfort zone because they don’t know where to start”. A number of recent marketing articles have pointed to this problem. However, I like your solution. Just one new tool might be used and then its success gauged before trying to take on too many new media choices all at once. Regardless what they choose to use, if marketers would simply engage their customers and solicit their true opinions and feedback, they’d learn a great deal. But conversing with the customer is one thing, and then acting on what the majority of them want and need is quite another. All of the conversation and information we gather in the world is useless unless it is acted upon. Right?
We can never assume anything about our customrs. Especially these days of such high market volatility. I suggest marketers reorient their priorities and put customer interaction and customer information gathering at the top of their lists. If they want to be successful, that is. . .
Thanks, Amber, for sharing your insights. I hope your clients are listening to you.
The “go to” market is dead. You need to branch out, hit those “dont go there” markets
Interesting POV, I am Search Marketing. Could you kindly elaborate on your idea for me and for DF readers? I’d like to read more. . .
Thanks for making such a provocative comment.
Ted,
I haven’t been reading your posts prior to this one, but wanted to comment. I have consulted in the health care marketing field for over 10 years. Unlike other fields, health care is extremely reticent to experiment with products and services because of a fear that such innovation will not be reimbursed by the payors. Another factor that contributes to marketing inertia in the health care business is difficulty in proving ROI as a result of marketing efforts. The number of articles, seminars, and talks given at the national conferences on measuring ROI and proving marketing was directly responsible for achieving it demonstrates how desperate marketers are for some magic formulas and approaches. All of this militates against a desire to get too out front with things that are untested.
Thanks for a provocative topic!
Patrick T. Buckley
President and CEO
PB Healthcare Business Solutions LLC
See my blog at http://www.themarketingwhisperer.blogspot.com
Ted,
I haven’t been reading your posts prior to this one, but wanted to comment. I have consulted in the health care marketing field for over 10 years. Unlike other fields, health care is extremely reticent to experiment with products and services because of a fear that such innovation will not be reimbursed by the payors. Another factor that contributes to marketing inertia in the health care business is difficulty in proving ROI as a result of marketing efforts. The number of articles, seminars, and talks given at the national conferences on measuring ROI and proving marketing was directly responsible for achieving it demonstrates how desperate marketers are for some magic formulas and approaches. All of this militates against a desire to get too out front with things that are untested.
Thanks for a provocative topic!
Patrick T. Buckley
President and CEO
PB Healthcare Business Solutions LLC
See my blog at http://www.themarketingwhisperer.blogspot.com
Patrick,
Measuring marketing ROI has long been a bone of contention in many organizations. New media tools are bringing new challenges along with them. New media presents marketers with many new tools and many of them are not appropriate apps for companies. Not all of them are that expensive, either. Bottom line, I think, is that whether the health care companies you work with provide products or services, they should put a primary emphasis on the customer. Carrying on a dialogue with the customer is extremely important, and your clients don’t all need to develop blogs to do that. Paying attention to fully servicing their clients and asking them what they need/want, may not be high tech, but it will deliver much-needed information to marketers. I just don’t think we ought to hide behind excuses for not trying to implement new marketing strategies. Too expensive, too risky, too new and untrusted. . .remember all of these things have been said before. . .about all of the things that have become accepted practices now.
Thanks, Patrick, for sharing your insights with us. I love hearing from marketers and consultants from many industries.
Thanks again, Ted for another wake up call. But the statistics don’t surprise me either. This is why we have businesses not looking at their competitiors to see how they can better COMPETE with them, but how to COPY them!!
Marketing is a tough business. I work full time as a marketing director for a paper distribution company in New York, and am a partner in a firm in New Jersey, so my life is consumed with marketing.
CEOs and their scarier CFO colleagues think business will just magically gravitate their way and marketing is merely the “parsley on the plate” of every business. It’s a tough sale just to get these people to embrace the vision of any project, much less to have them spend the time and money on developing a system of marketing and much-needed metric follow up. I spend more time on that than I do working on the creative end.
But I won’t belabor this point. The statistics you cited, Ted, were startling but the one that blew me away was this:
Only 14% cited retail and service execution was a priority”? (What the hell?) Is it me or is that the whole business, whether you’re selling products or services. Isn’t that the point where we get the people to give us their money?
Macy’s, as I’ve stated many times before, is a perfect example of this. I won’t belabor this point either.
This startling and very disturbing statistic is what happens when entreprenuers trade passion for profit. Once the bean counters from the conglomerates take over a business, that’s it. They’ve had their faces in ledger sheets (those born before 1940) and Excel spreadsheets their whole lives. They’ve probably never set foot in one of their stores. Numbers don’t tell you what a customer is thinking. They don’t show the delight in a customer’s face when they’ve found the perfect item. They’ve never made friends with a customer. The art of seducing a customer is lost. It’s “get em in, get em out (after having em’ stand on a checkout line for about 35 minutes), how much profit did we make on that sale.”
I’ve loved marketing ever since I was a child marketing my home made Barbie dresses. I still do. As the economy now gets more unstable, customers are more and more scarce. The marketing community has to get out of this malaise the bean counters have driven us to and push forward and become the mavericks of our organizations.
I often wonder to myself after a “strategy” meeting…”If a marketing manager falls down in the CEO’s office and no one hears her, does she really make a sound?”
As an aside, did anyone else but me hear about Starbucks closing 600 stores and focusing more on coffee? Wow, why the hell didn’t I think of that? Duh!!! Thank goodness Howard’s back!!!!
You’ve made many great points here, Dawn, and I thank you. I’ve heard lamentations for years about the fact the merchants have left retailing and the “bean counters” and investors have trashed the entire sector since they’ve taken it over. There is more than a kernel of truth to that. That’s why smart entrepreneurs are starting up specialty operations everywhere, and taking substantial business from Macy’s and other retail giants. No surprise. They specialize in customer service and stand for something unique in the customer’s mind.
All of the current trends do not excuse marketers from the retailing sector, or any other, from complacency and paralysis brought on by indecision and fear. Sure, it’s challenging and tough. What isn’t?
If marketers want to be respected within their organizations, and they want their contributions to be valued, they have to prove themselves like everyone else. That all starts with communication, doesn’t it? Working more closely with CFOs, IT and the top execs and agreeing on strategies, tactics and a game plan sure helps. Implementing plans and sharing results openly also helps to reinforce the value of marketing within organizations. Do I think that’s enough to gain respect in every company? No, I don’t. But I also maintain it will go a long way in many companies if marketers don’t hide out, work hard, take initiative, communicate well with their peers and management, and prove their worth. The alternative? Budget and staff cuts, the perception that marketing departments are window dressers, etc, etc, etc. . .
Thanks for adding your cogent thoughts as usual, Dawn. I appreciate it.
Great, if terrifying post.
I don’t think marketers can hide any more – the world is moving too fast and in most industries at least one company has moved on, threatening the laggards with extinction. I think marketers need to go back to the basics of their company’s value and see how new media, micro-segmentation and more can leverage that. Nothing less will do.
The lack of focus on customer insight and on customer-centric activities was shocking, I completely agree. The switching costs for most companies has fallen dramatically in recent years and the information you have about your customers is one of the few competitive assets you have that cannot be replicated by a lower-cost competitor. To not use it is criminal.
Check out some of my related posts:
http://smartenoughsystems.com/wp/2008/05/02/heres-how-you-can-deliver-extreme-personalization/
http://smartenoughsystems.com/wp/2008/01/16/using-edm-to-keep-loyalty-where-you-want-it/
JT
James Taylor
Author, with Neil Raden, of Smart (Enough) Systems
http://www.smartenoughsystems.com