5 ways CMOs can pivot from defensive to offensive to avoid being sidelined

The tides seem to be turning in the favour of CMOs in B2C companies, said Forrester's 2022 predictions on the role of CMOs.  While 2022 might be an important transitional year for CMOs, Forrester adds "not all CMOs are created equal".  In fact, it is the leader behind the CMO title that makes or breaks the role. The study added that next year will be the tale of two CMOs: One with data, martech, customer experience, and product chips to expand their remit, while the other sidelined by the chief "something" officer role.

The pandemic has undoubtedly tested the resilience of CMOs, who have spent a majority of their careers proving they are essential to the inflow of revenue. Amidst the tumultuous period, CMOs have had to pivot their roles to incorporate new aspects such as delivery models, brands experiences and communications strategies. Moreover, Forrester’s 2021 global marketing survey also indicated that spending will increase across all categories in 2022.

This led to a rebound in marketing budgets, which left CMOs feeling bolder.

Additionally, the August 2021 CMO Pulse Survey revealed that 92% of US B2C marketing executives believe that their CEO fully supports the marketing function.  In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Mathew Godfrey, CEO of Nutrition Innovation said he expects CMOs to take increasing ownership of proprietary data and drive this efficiently into insight-led strategies with nimble execution. Godfrey, who was previously Asia president of WPP owned Y&R (which has now merged with VML) has spent 21 years in the industry entirely in the Asia Pacific region working with marketing professionals.

“CMOs must feed the ROI back into strengthening their  competitive proprietary data. They need to embrace partners that will enable them to take the lead in key social and eCommerce battlegrounds,” he said.

He added that another area CMOs must invest in is creative excitement to drive loyalty with more consumers now seeking fresh experiences to be unleashed from the repetitive and mundane. Experiences can be digital, real-world, metaverse, short or long. But CMOs must help consumers bring a sense of escapism, surprise, or adventure to their brands through engagement – or otherwise run the risk of consumers rapidly seeking it elsewhere.

When asked CMOs can avoid being sidelined by CEOs internally, Godfrey said:

You have to win internally to win externally.

“Colleagues will continue to operate in a more disconnected and distributed world. This impacts company stability, retention, culture, productivity and therefore, success. Marketers must use their marketing skills to unify the company’s resources around principles and issues critical to team spirit and improving the community. Be internally inspiring, purposeful and make smiles infectious,” he said.

Moreover, Godfrey believes that CMOs who take risks at the end of the day will be the ones rewarded.

“The world has been turned upside down and macro and micro-level changes are in abundant and opportunistic supply. Create a slice of corporate appetite for innovation and bold approaches. Your crazy new idea could be tomorrow’s sure thing. Find it first or be a follower,” he said.

Daniel Hagmeijer, chief digital officer at The Body Shop Indonesia told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the focus for many CMOs has been far too much around communications only – and not enough on aspects such as strategy, product and experience, and business growth. As such, many companies are now replacing the CMO role with a chief customer officer or chief experience officer roles to help align the company around the customers and their objectives.

CMOs must have the responsibility to utilise data and analytics to generate insights to deliver better customer experiences across the end-to-end journey.

“This means the CMO – or whichever title a company goes with – needs to drive digital expertise and technology adoption across the business to create new customer offerings and experiences for the company to be able to stay competitive today and tomorrow,” he added.

However, this doesn’t mean the role of storyteller doesn’t exist anymore, explained Hagmeijer. Storytelling to differentiate the brand from competitors while driving affinity with the customer will always be a core aspect of the role.

“It’s just that there are now many more stories to be discovered and to be told on different platforms, including in-store, in social media, on the web, in apps, and on TV (in several markets where TV is still king). Marketers that can adapt to a customer centric mindset using today’s available tools will be the ones who will be able to tell the best stories and create the best experiences,” he added.

Meanwhile, here are five key ways marketers can go from the defensive to the offensive and ensure they are not sidelined. 

1. Five high-profile CMOs will expand their remit

“The great resignation” will exacerbate the already short average CMO tenure, while creating new opportunities for modern CMOs that have data, tech, and financial acumen to be choosy about their next role, said Forrester. 

Rather than being sidelined by an "alphabet soup" of adjacent C-suite marketing titles crowding the boardroom, CMOs in 2022 will favour an elevated span of business responsibilities. 

Data from Forrester’s August 2021 CMO Pulse Survey says that data strategy and innovation rank as the top two marketing priorities. CEOs who hire and empower the right CMO will have but one able and accountable marketing leader who might also become a suitable successor. To earn the CEO’s confidence, CMOs must first and foremost deliver on customer-obsessed marketing.

2. Commerce will catalyse 35% of CMOs into CX leaders

In 2022, more CMOs will own or influence online commerce, said the report. In fact, Forrester predicts that 35% of B2C marketing functions will be responsible for CX, a number that has slowly risen from 2019 (24%) to 2021 (28%).

However, as the digital divide diminishes, one can expect the percentage to accelerate in 2022. Since the pandemic started, brands were forced to accelerate its commerce transformations in order to transact effectively with customers.

As most touchpoints become shoppable ones, commerce becomes ubiquitous across the customer journey as it grows on digital platforms. To compete, companies have to prioritise omnichannel commerce (CX), which is a territory particularly suited to the CMO, given all customer experiences are brand experiences and CMOs must ensure that the brand interconnects the “anywhere commerce” experience.

3. Four in 10 CMOs will bolster their in-house agencies’ remit from execution to creation

Due to an influx of seasoned creative leaders in the job market, in-house agencies crossed the talent chasm in 2021. According to Forrester, fewer in-house agencies will be relegated to the "scraps" left by external creative agencies in 2022.

Forrester’s August 2021 CMO Pulse Survey shows that 44% of US B2C marketing executives plan to move more agency work to their in-house teams in 2022. Driven by cost and process efficiencies, CMOs will lean on their in-house agencies to take on more high-profile assignments as part of the blended partner management model.

4. Brands will step in where governments fail to act

According to Forrester, 2022 will see performative virtue signaling in the private sector replaced by bolder actions that advance environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals. At the same time, Forrester also reports that consumers in India, US, UK and France increasingly expect brands to use their platforms to lead change on issues affecting society. 

In fact, 2021 saw mainstream companies taking public actions on politicised issues. There was also an increase in the number of online adults in Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US who said they would regularly purchase from brands that align with their personal values in 2021 than in 2020. Forrester expects this number to surpass in 2022 (50%), spurring brands to take action.

As a result, CMOs are expected to navigate an even more deeply politically divided and vocal consumer base. 

5. Over half of CMOs will make employee experience (EX) essential to brand planning

Brand planning is no longer just about the consumer. Employees, like consumers, are affected by marketing - they need to be acquired and retained. In fact, employees are on the frontline of the experience. According to the report, this makes the stakes higher than ever. Not only is employee activism around company practices on the rise, but consumers are also holding companies accountable. 

As brand-building leaders, CMOs are best suited to contribute to EX by enlisting their HR partner in EX collaboration. As a result, EX budgets are expected to grow in 2022, bringing about a formal partnership between the CMO and chief product officer (CPO) or chief human resources officer (CHRO). 

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Photo courtesy: 123RF

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