In recent years, the job mission of a marketer has transformed into a complex role that includes data analytics, sales results, and strategy. Marketers are faced with the difficulty of driving business results in a constantly changing environment while keeping the creativity flowing. This challenge was the main focus at Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo™ 2019 that came to a close earlier this week.
The conference showcased industry leaders who spoke to the difficulties facing CMOs and marketing leaders throughout various sectors. Many speakers, including Jonah Berger, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and Paige O’Neill, CMO at Sitecore, highlighted the importance of decision marking, customer engagement, and analytics to the modern marketer.
Gartner’s @JenPolk1 refers to content as “the last mile of personalization”. Live audience poll reveals content to be the #1 obstacle to effective personalization #GartnerMKTG @eSpirit pic.twitter.com/OJt66piclY— Sebastian Glock (@sebglock) April 30, 2019
Brands, Consumers are shouting for HELP! #GartnerMKTG pic.twitter.com/wRVgLgVFPP— Marcio Krug (@marciokrug) April 29, 2019
Sitecore CMO @Paige_ONeill and @VolvoCars’ @RowanHolloway took the stage at the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo™ today and spoke about identifying the best strategies for your organization to constantly evolve and ways to keep consumers connected and engaged. #GartnerMKTG pic.twitter.com/jx4JLYFdxC— Sitecore (@Sitecore) April 29, 2019
Throughout the sessions it became clear that marketers are struggling to overcome similar obstacles and one of the biggest is content. Content that is personalized, offers a memorable customer experience, and is in tune with the brand message. Today, the customer journey and the data collected throughout the process is extremely valuable to marketers, but they are struggling to obtain it.
2019 Top marketing investments that drive the greatest incremental impact:
1. Personalization
2. Content Markeing
3. Customer Experience#gartnermktg @brentadamson
Where research meets real life, as marketers in today’s world, our job is to help consumers make decisions. pic.twitter.com/ndEiiFTyRe— Allison Munro (@yomunro) April 29, 2019
#GartnerMKTG The “Spaghetti Bowl”. An illustration of the #B2B Buying Journey. @brentadamson @GartnerDigital pic.twitter.com/lZeXlSWPuN— Debi Norton (@debinorton) April 30, 2019
#DigitalMarketing continues to adjust to changing customer expectations. Investment in #MarTech increases as Investments in Labor Pulls Back.
#GartnerMKTG #CMO pic.twitter.com/SU3uapUeb1— Tiffani Bova (@Tiffani_Bova) April 29, 2019
How can marketers leverage these analytics? By analyzing the data and meeting the customer where they are – connecting engagement to demand. It isn’t enough for the marketing team to be customer focused, teams from all sectors of an organization must come together to ensure their customers are being engaged from the beginning of the buying process to the end. So, what’s stopping this? Budget limitations are to blame.
10 habits of Customer Centric organizations [#cmo #customersuccess #CX #custserv] @Gartner_inc
#GartnerMKTG pic.twitter.com/6OOCWILDrH https://t.co/ePr7Gw8orr pic.twitter.com/GbxyFYwHyP— Steven Dawson (@StevenDawsonSD) April 30, 2019
Marketing budgets have remained constant, while analytics teams have doubled in size leading to tough choices. @brentadamson #GartnerMKTG pic.twitter.com/uXVSk8iy2U— Michelle Crecca (@CreccaMichelle) April 29, 2019
Right message @ right channel understanding what customers want in real time seamlessly across the journey #GartnerMKTG pic.twitter.com/NNUfOdZFVo— Venky Vijay Reddi (@venkyvijay) May 1, 2019
In multiple sessions, speakers touched on the change in budget allocation for marketing departments. Budgets have either stayed the same – bogging down employees with new expectations – or have been split and dedicated to technology programs over people. While analytics solutions are a must-have for marketers, it’s also important that they have enough people to tackle their growing task lists. While speakers gave no set resolution, it was clear that to expect results from an overloaded team, businesses must provide employees with the right resources.
Interested in learning more about how marketers’ roles are changing? Subscribe today.
