Is There A Divide Between CMOs And The Rest Of The C-Suite?
A recent report reveals that 50% of senior marketing professionals globally feel disconnected from the C-suite. Whose fault is it and how can marketers promote the value of martech?
According to figures from digital transformation company Squiz, 50% of senior marketing professionals globally feel disconnected from the C-suite. The annual “State of Marketing Technology” report in February 2017 revealed that although 78% of senior marketers feel confident in explaining the value of technology investments, there is a disconnect from the boardroom. Should marketers be doing more to communicate the value of martech at a business level?
Global hostel booking site Hostelworld has invested heavily in martech over the last few years, implementing a new CRM system, portfolio bidding tools, and affiliate platforms. Otto Rosenberger, chief marketing officer (pictured right), says the word “disconnect” is too strong. “CMOs and senior marketers need to be aware that, in general, there is a trust gap between them and the board,” he said. “This comes down to the huge digital transformation of marketing that we’ve seen over the past decade or so. CMOs often struggle to convince their peers and the board of the continuous need for change.”
The speed at which technology has evolved—and continues to evolve—has, indeed, been rapid, resulting in more complex buyer journeys, multiple devices, and the rise of social media. Rosenberger says such factors contribute to “a sense that CMOs don’t necessarily have a grasp on their profession.”
To counter this lack of trust, there is a belief that marketers need to speak the language of the boardroom, moving away from “creative” speak. “I think the challenge for marketers is where they arrive in the boardroom presenting data that doesn’t show a clear enough link to the drivers of the organisation,” Peter Markey, brand communications and marketing director at Aviva, said. “There is also the issue that some metrics can, at times, feel too ‘fluffy’ and abstract for the C-suite.”
Commerciality
Rosenberger agrees, adding that it’s crucial to “learn the language of finance” and be able to see the world from the perspective of other parts of the business. “Being able to demonstrate how marketing helps achieve corporate goals is important, as is being proud when you deliver these efficiencies,” he said.
It is a point made by Kristof Fahy, chief customer officer at Ladbrokes Coral. “We have made some significant investments with some very big [martech] players, and people are expecting that to deliver a return. It’s our job to ensure it does. If we can show it works and drives a hard commercial return, the push-back you get is very limited.”
Culture
The findings of the survey also fail to resonate with Simon Sproule, CMO at Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, who believes that any disconnect between senior marketers and the C-suite is no more pronounced than any other functions. It is something which may also be attributed to culture. “Maybe I have been fortunate or exceptional to work for CEOs that are all engineers, but they understand very clearly the mathematics of marketing,” he said.
CMO Failures
“It is an exceptional CEO that has in-depth knowledge of every single functional area of their business, hence why they rely on their senior leaders to be subject matter experts,” Sproule said. “It is up to the CMO to represent the function and deliver a compelling vision and results.”
It is a telling point, shining a different light on findings such as “only a third (33%) of CMOs think that C-suite understands the value of martech at a financial level.” How much of this is down to the failings of the individual CMO? As Markey said: “If we want marketing to be seen as an investment, not an expense, then, as marketers, we need to do a far better job of showing the projected and actual commercial impact of marketing activity.” It means evidencing the role that each element of marketing activity is playing to drive the commercial performance of the organisation.
Sproule states that for the CMOs who don’t believe that C-suite understands the value of martech at a financial level, it is likely to be a failure of the CMO or senior marketers to present a compelling vision for their strategy and investments. “My experience is based entirely on the delivery of results driving confidence in the function … which is exactly the same as for any other function.”
Rosenberger agreed: “Those 33% of marketers should take some time to effectively demonstrate the value of marketing to their CFO. My top tip is to ask the CFO what he or she needs to sign something off—there should be no mystery here.”
There is clearly room for improvement among many CMOs in building closer links to the board and promoting a better understanding of the value of martech, and some valuable lessons have already been learnt. As Markey said: “I’ve learnt the vital importance of working alongside other C-suite functions to ensure that marketing’s main focus and objectives are aligned with the rest of the organisation.”
Fahy advises marketers to stop talking about ads and campaigns. “You have to talk about customers and the value you are adding,” he said. “People who talk about ads and campaigns are deferring to creative, but you need to defer to ROI.”
And while technology continues to advance at pace, it is important to be realistic about what it can achieve. As Rosenberger said, it is about making incremental gains. “All we have to do is be 10% better. As long as we can do that, we will make a huge difference without having to embark on big unwieldy projects with uncertain outcomes … Always understand that tech can’t do everything, as much as we want it to.”
Follow the links for CMO.com’s interviews with: Otto Rosenberger, Hostelworld ; Kristof Fahy, Ladbrokes Coral ; and Simon Sproule, Aston Martin Lagonda .