A new study shows that CMOs believe their companies are “behind the curve” when evaluating their company’s performance in the digital marketing arena. Heidrick & Struggles found that 60 percent of companies believe they are not where they should be in terms of marketing.
“Companies realize that they’re in the midst of digital man-to-man combat to acquire consumer dollars, but they’re frustrated that they’re not very good at it,” says Lynne Seid, partner at Heidrick & Struggles’ global marketing officers practice.
Other key findings:
- Forty-nine percent of respondents agreed that it’s important for the CMO to be proficient, yet only 13 percent said their companies had developed the internal talent to promote marketing growth.
- Forty-five percent of respondents felt they would need to turn to external partners and agencies.
- Only 12 percent felt their company was improving the consistency of its marketing and sales communications.
- Sixty percent of respondents reported that the marketing department has primary responsibility for analytics, but they want IT to share this load with 44 percent of respondents wanting IT to take responsibility for analytics.
- Growth is not an immediate desire as only 13 percent of respondents viewed expansion into new geographies has very important.