Gartner’s annual summarisation of CMO priorities has become a bellwether event for all CMO’s to truly understand how their business priorities compare to those of the wider marketing world. The 2020 edition comes in 2 parts and provides an all-round view of the key marketer challenges of 2020. The main features in this year’s report are around how marketers set their strategies and budgets to respond to the uncertainty of an economic crisis whilst maintaining a future-thinking approach that will encourage growth in 2021.
In-housing is en vogue
Part 2 of the Annual CMO Survey addresses the surge of in-housing marketing, the strong positioning of MarTech and the continuation of digital channels averaging at 80% of the marketing budget.
The CMOs annual budget is heavily dominated by digital advertising, which adapts to the evolving tech-savvy consumers. Social marketing’s positioning close behind relates to the visibility and easy tracking of consumer behaviours. Compared to other forms of marketing, social and website are deemed to be more affordable, therefore with CMOs spending more in these fields, there is a need for more insights on consumers and their behaviours.
Offline Marketing is still relatively high when you take into account the global crisis of 2020 and the surge of online activity, however, TV advertising spend remains strong. In addition, offline activity is seen as supporting online activity in influencing the consumer’s purchase decision.
“CMOs surveyed said they spend nearly one-quarter (22%) of the marketing budget on digital advertising, (13.5%) including display, video or ads on platforms like Amazon, and paid search (8.6%). Another 59% went to owned and earned digital channels such as social marketing, the website, SEO and mobile marketing.”
Digital transformation continues apace
CMOs have predicted that their spend in 2021 will be even higher on digital marketing suggesting that digital transformation will continue for many businesses. The increase in spend and marketing priorities online will present challenges, such as continuously optimising customer touchpoints with a test and learn approach. CMOs will also have to be adaptable and prepared for the change in order to deliver their business goals online.
2020 has sped up the in-housing trend
The rate of in-housing has been increasing at a rapid rate due to the unprecedented turn of events during 2020, which has ‘forced” business to adapt and attempt to change the entire dynamic of their marketing.
Although in-housing provides CMOs with more control are they making significant savings?
Over the last few years, in-housing has presented many positive factors from brand consistency to efficiency, however, this new concept has not been put into practice long enough for a lot of companies to see the benefits and to reinvest the savings made following the initial outlay made on transformation and employee training. However, there are various rewards that may be noted in next year’s survey such as quicker brand optimisation, ownership and understanding of data and building a team of internal experts.
The key takeaways from the survey that can be actioned instantly are ensuring your organisation has undergone a digital transformation to facilitate your consumers and also beginning or continuing the process of in-housing marketing activity.
