Bad news in an end-of-year study released by the CMO Council. Top marketing executives admit that their group’s performance is lacking, which leads to a lack of influence and credibility within the corporate hierarchy. The survey was sent to senior-level marketing executives at IBM, Intel, Xerox, and other high-tech companies.
Of the 400 executives that responded, some depressing findings:
- Only 10% of respondents to the survey said their marketing groups are "highly influential and strategic" within the company
- Less than half said their teams are "well regarded and respected"
- More than 40 percent of marketers polled say their alignment with the company mission falls between "average" and "not well-aligned"
- Top listed area of weakness: customer insight and access (46 percent!)
- In a separate but related data point, I just read in Fast Company that the average CMO tenure among the world's top 100 branded companies is just 23 months, half the life span of their CEOs.
The executive director of the CMO Council said of his study that the problem is that most marketers operate from a rigid tactical orientation rather than with a flexible analytic approach. The answer is to instill processes that measure, analyze, rate and iterate each function and initiative's performance on an ongoing basis. Transform your marketing organization with rigorous disciplines, best practices, and technology-enabled processes that management can respect.
Um, OK. We're all in this together.
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