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[Report] Voice of the Enterprise CMO 2024

In the competitive landscape of digital marketing, no one has to be more adaptable than the Chief Marketing Officer.

2023 came with major changes. We saw AI’s tipping point into the mainstream. New social media platforms emerging.  Continuous changes in data privacy regulations. An uncertain economy keeping budgets thin. 

How did CMOs overcome these changes with their marketing strategy? Find out from the Voice of the Enterprise CMO report!

The key takeaways:

  • Challenges of CMOs and how they can overcome them 
  • CMOs daily experiences managing enterprise marketing programs
  • How customer behaviour changed in 2023 
  • Top marketing strategies for 2024 
  • CMOs’ hiring and retention plans in 2024 
  • CMOs’ budget and spending plans for 2024
  • In-demand marketing skills for CMOs in 2024

Download the report

CONTENTS

A Word From Our CEO

max koziolek pofile photo
Max Koziolek
Spectrm | CEO

Marketers have to be adaptable to changing times and trends. And no one has to be more adaptable than the Chief Marketing Officer.

CMOs have much to navigate on a daily basis. They must engage customers. Drive revenue. Keep the brand relevant. Manage internal teams. And then quickly pivot when everything invariably changes.

And there were a lot of changes in 2023. We saw AI’s tipping point into the mainstream. Migrations from established social media platforms to new ones. Continuous changes in data privacy regulations. An uncertain economy keeping budgets thin. And there will likely be many more changes in 2024.

Did CMOs overcome these changes with their marketing strategy? How are they preparing for the changes coming in the next year?

To learn more about their daily experiences managing enterprise marketing programs, we surveyed over 200 CMOs at consumer B2C companies across a number of industries. They provide us insights into their success and priorities, current customer and tech trends, their biggest challenges, and where they’re allocating their budgets.

We hope these insights help you as you build your marketing strategies for 2024.

Key Findings

Here are eight key insights about today’s marketing landscape from the CMOs we surveyed.

Only 54% say their 2023 marketing program was highly or somewhat successful. The top marketing challenges in 2023 were managing marketing campaign ROI and performance metrics and staying updated with rapidly evolving digital platforms and technologies.

Their top priorities for 2023 were personalization at scale and sustainability/social responsibility marketing. However, their top priorities for 2024 are brand reinforcement to strengthen their presence in target markets and Digital Transformation.

The most adopted technologies in 2023 were Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), and e-commerce platforms. Looking forward to 2024, the top tech trends will be personalized AI chatbots, interactive and shoppable video content, and decentralized web marketing.

66% have experimented with AI in their marketing efforts. Of those that have, 65% say AI met their expectations.

The biggest customer behavior changes in 2023 were increased online purchasing and the rise in direct-to-consumer (DTC). The top customer trends of 2023 were the increase of messaging on private channels and seeking digital-first services.

A CMO’s greatest challenge is maintaining brand relevance. Other top challenges include data privacy and security and talent acquisition and retention.

Only 46% expect to see a budget increase. Areas of increased budget focus for 2024 are CRM/retention marketing and content creation and management.

Top in-demand marketing skills for 2024 will be data analytics and AI platform content strategy. The most in-demand marketing jobs today are Social Media Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist, and Retention/CRM Marketer.

Part 1: 2023 Marketing Strategy

Marketing rapidly changes. From shifting customer behaviors to new technologies and platforms, CMOs need to stay on top of what their audience needs and how to reach them. In this section, respondents give us an overview of their 2023 marketing strategy: what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change.

54% say their 2023 marketing program was highly or somewhat successful

In rating the success of their 2023 marketing program, 29% say it was highly successful, while 25% say it was somewhat successful. 9% say it was somewhat unsuccessful, while 23% say it was highly unsuccessful. 13% saw no significant change.

Top Marketing Priorities for 2023

In 2023, our respondents focused on the following as their top marketing priorities:

  1. Personalization at scale (30%)
  2. Sustainability and social responsibility marketing (29%)
  3. Content marketing and brand storytelling (28% tie)
  4. Customer experience and journey optimization (28% tie)
  5. Expanding into new markets or consumer segments (26% tie)
  6. Investing in technology and marketing automation (26% tie)

They’re also prioritizing enhancing digital presence and e-commerce capabilities (24% tie), building and nurturing direct-to-consumer relationships (24% tie), data-driven marketing and analytics (23%), brand reputation management and public relations (21%), influencer partnerships and collaborations (20%), and immersive experiences like virtual/augmented reality and experiential events (19%).

Top Marketing Challenges for 2023

The biggest challenges they faced in 2023 include:

  1. Managing the ROI and performance metrics of marketing campaigns (33% tie)
  2. Staying updated with rapidly evolving digital platforms and technologies (33% tie)
  3. Talent acquisition and retaining skilled marketing professionals (30%)
  4. Effective cross-channel and multi-touchpoint marketing (27%)
  5. Balancing short-term sales objectives with long-term brand building (26%)

They were also challenged by navigating global supply chain disruptions and their impact on marketing (25%), addressing privacy regulations and data security concerns (24% tie), competing in saturated markets with increased competition (24% tie), integrating and making sense of large data sets (23%), adapting to changing consumer behaviors and preferences (21%), managing and optimizing a growing martech stack (17%), and ensuring consistent brand messaging across all touchpoints (16%).

Top Six Marketing Channels with the Highest ROI

According to respondents, the following marketing channels have the highest ROI:

  1. Social media marketing (22%)
  2. Traditional media, like TV, radio, and print (14%)
  3. Private messaging, like WhatsApp, Messenger, and direct messages (10%)
  4. Digital advertising, like PPC and display ads (9% tie)
  5. Influencer and affiliate marketing (9% tie)
  6. Email marketing (9% tie)

Other channels include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (8%), events and experiential marketing (7%), content marketing like blogs and ebooks (6% tie), and referral and word-of-mouth marketing (6% tie).

Top Six Changes to Marketing Strategy

To respond to changing behaviors and trends, respondents made these changes to their marketing strategy in 2023:

  1. Strengthened e-commerce capabilities and direct-to-consumer channels (30%)
  2. Increased investment in digital and online channels (28% tie)
  3. Pivoted to more customer-centric and personalized content (28% tie)
  4. Adopted new technologies or tools for automation and analytics (28% tie)
  5. Emphasized video marketing and other rich media content (28% tie)
  6. Expanded into new markets or targeted new consumer segments (28% tie)

They also shifted focus to sustainability and responsible marketing (25%), revamped brand positioning or underwent rebranding (24%), adopted agile marketing practices for faster adaptation (23%), diversified marketing channels to reduce dependency on a single platform (20%), enhanced the integration of offline and online marketing efforts (19%), and implemented a more rigorous data privacy and security protocol (18%).

Summary/Transition

In this section, respondents give us an overview of their 2023 marketing strategy in terms of what worked and what needed to change. Here are a few takeaways from their responses.

There’s much room for improvement: Only 29% say their 2023 marketing program was highly successful. Improve your marketing program through better approaches to the two biggest challenges: managing marketing campaign ROI and performance metrics and staying updated with rapidly evolving digital platforms and technologies.

Prioritize what’s working for successful companies: Respondents who say their program was “highly successful” focused on sustainability and social responsibility marketing, building and nurturing direct-to-consumer relationships, and personalization at scale.

Go to the channels with the highest ROI: To engage with customers, go where they are. Respondents found the highest ROI through social media marketing, traditional media, and private messaging.

Make the changes “highly successful” companies did: Improve your marketing program by making the changes “highly successful” respondents did. They increased investment in digital and online channels, pivoted to more customer-centric and personalized content, and expanded into new markets or targeted new consumer segments.

Part 2: Technology and Tools

2023 was certainly the year of AI, but there are many other tools that marketers need in their tech stack. What technology are CMOs currently employing in their marketing approach, and what’s actually working to improve customer engagement and retention?

Top Six New Technologies for 2023

Respondents adopted several new technologies in 2023, including the following:

  1. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) (42%)
  2. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) (39%)
  3. E-commerce platforms and enhancements (36%)
  4. Content Management Systems (CMS) (35%)
  5. Conversational AI platforms (34% tie)
  6. Personalization engines (34% tie)

They also adopted video production and editing tools for enhancing video marketing capabilities (30% tie), programmatic advertising platforms for automating the buying, placement, and optimization of media inventory (30% tie), marketing attribution tools to track the customer’s journey and understand the effectiveness of different touchpoints (30% tie), blockchain technologies for transparency in ad buying or customer loyalty programs (27%), and 5G technology applications for faster content delivery and enhanced mobile experiences (26%).

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79% adopted tools that exceeded or met expectations

How did those new tools meet respondents’ needs? 39% say their tools exceeded expectations and significantly outperformed their initial predictions, greatly enhancing their marketing efforts. 40% say they met expectations and performed as anticipated, becoming a reliable addition to their marketing arsenal. 21% say the tools fell below expectations and did not fully deliver on their promises, or respondents encountered challenges in their implementation and use.

66% have experimented with AI

Two out of three respondents (66%) have experimented with AI in their marketing efforts, while 34% have not.

65% say AI met their expectations

For those who have experimented with AI, 65% say AI met their expectations, while 35% say it did not.

Top Five Approaches to the Buying Processes

When evaluating and purchasing new marketing tools or technologies, the following best describes their company’s typical buying process:

  1. CMO-led decision: The decision is predominantly driven by the CMO or the senior marketing leadership (21%)
  2. Pilot and testing: They often engage in pilot programs or trials before making a full purchase (15%)
  3. Research and shortlisting: They begin with in-depth market research, followed by creating a shortlist of potential solutions (13%)
  4. Peer recommendations: They rely heavily on recommendations from peers in the industry or from their network (12% tie)
  5. Committee decision: A cross-functional committee, including stakeholders from different departments, collaborates to make the final decision (12% tie)

They also use vendor presentations (9% tie), external consultants (9% tie), and rapid adoption (9% tie).

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32% directly involve the CFO in major purchases

32% say the CFO is directly involved in every major marketing tool or technology purchase decision, while 22% have the CFO consult for major purchases or budget considerations. 13% occasionally consult the CFO, but not always. 14% rarely involve the CFO, and decisions are mainly marketing-led. 18% say the CFO is not involved at all.

Summary/Transition

New technologies have the potential to revolutionize marketing efforts — if they’re effective. Here are some insights on tech adoption from our respondents.

Use technology to attack your biggest challenge: The biggest challenge to CMOs is managing the ROI and performance metrics of their marketing campaigns. This is likely why they’re investing in Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Content Management Systems (CMS).

Use technology to achieve your biggest priority: The top priority for CMOs in 2023 was personalization at scale. So it makes sense that adopted technologies included Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and personalization engines, which can help drive that priority.

Use technology to support change: The top change marketers made to their strategy was to strengthen e-commerce capabilities and direct-to-consumer channels. One of the top tech adoptions of 2023 was e-commerce platforms and enhancements.

Use technology to increase your channel ROI: The channels with the biggest ROI include social media and private messaging. This is likely why another top tech of 2023 was conversational AI platforms to facilitate consumer engagements in those channels.

Part 3: Consumer Behaviors and Trends

To stay relevant to their customers, marketers need to follow changing customer behaviors and adapt to them. As CMOs continue to put efforts into staying on top of changing behaviors and trends, here’s what they’ve seen shifting in 2023.

Top Five Changes in Customer Behaviors

These are the ways consumer purchasing behavior evolved in 2023 compared to last year:

  1. Increased online purchasing (37% tie)
  2. Rise in direct-to-consumer (DTC) (37% tie)
  3. Shift to sustainable choices (36% tie)
  4. Subscription-based models (36% tie)
  5. Value-driven purchasing (36% tie)

They also saw a change in preference for local products (31% tie), increased use of mobile payment and digital wallets (31% tie), greater research and review dependency (30% tie), preferring experience over product (30% tie), and health and safety prioritization (28%).

Top Five Consumer Trends in 2023

These are the top consumer trends they saw in 2023:

  1. Rise of messaging on private channels, like WhatsApp and Telegram, and direct messages on social networks (39%) 
  2. Digital-first services (37%)
  3. Conscious consumerism (35% tie)
  4. Personalized experience (35% tie)
  5. Interactive and shoppable content (35% tie)

Other trends include the wellness and self-care boom (32%), resale and second-hand market expansion (31%), the rise of voice commerce (31%), social commerce growth (30%), experiential retail (28%), and micro-moments and instant gratification (23%).

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Summary/Transition

Effective marketing efforts need to keep up with consumer behaviors. Here are a few changes and trends that CMOs have noticed over the past year and how you can capitalize on them.

Cater to the increase in online purchasing: Respondents are seeing consumers take their purchasing online — probably why their biggest strategy change was strengthening e-commerce capabilities and direct-to-consumer channels. But don’t just offer items to purchase. Create a unique shopping experience that leverages conversational AI to guide them through their purchase.

Take advantage of the rise in direct-to-consumer (DTC): Consumers are bypassing traditional retailers and going directly to the brand. This means that you can better control the customer journey and create the outcomes you want. Interacting more directly with the customer means engaging them more personally. Gather zero- and first-party data directly from them as well.

Meet customers through messaging on private channels: Consumers seek personalized experiences with brands, which is why they’re turning to one-to-one conversations through private messaging channels. Leverage this trend by launching your own chatbots on various social media platforms and inviting customers into a direct, personalized chat with you.

Part 4: CMO Challenges

From adapting to customer behaviors to accurately attributing marketing dollars, CMOs face many daily challenges to ensure customer needs are met and products are sold. Here are some of the top challenges respondents experienced in 2023.

A CMO’s Three Greatest Challenges in 2023

These are the greatest challenges our respondents faced in 2023:

  1. Maintaining brand relevance, and ensuring the brand remains top-of-mind in an increasingly competitive market (14%)
  2. Data privacy and security, and addressing growing concerns and regulations around consumer data protection (12% tie)
  3. Talent acquisition and retention amidst a competitive landscape (12% tie)

Other challenges include adapting to rapid digital transformations (9% tie), ROI and performance metrics (9% tie), global market dynamics (9% tie), sustainability and ethical marketing (9% tie), integrated marketing across channels (9% tie), staying ahead of consumer trends (9% tie), and balancing innovation and fundamentals (8%).

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Top Five Changing Roles and Responsibilities

CMO responsibilities and roles have evolved over the past year in the following ways:

  1. Broader strategy oversight in areas like customer experience or product development (40%)
  2. Increased data involvement in analytics and consumer insights to drive marketing strategies (38%)
  3. Budgeting and cost efficiency to ensure marketing ROI (37% tie)
  4. Diversity and inclusion initiatives to ensure representation in marketing campaigns and team structures (37% tie)
  5. Digital Transformation and e-commerce strategies leadership (34%)

Other changes include stakeholder collaboration (31% tie), sustainability advocacy (31% tie), crisis management (31% tie), learning and development (30% tie), consumer privacy leadership (30% tie), greater involvement in tech decisions (30% tie), and bringing marketing closer to sales (28% tie).

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Summary/Transition

CMOs must be adaptable to the changing conditions and requirements of consumer marketing, both in terms of customer demand and internal initiatives. Here are the takeaways from what CMOs had to say about their daily challenges.

Maintain brand relevance through personalization: A CMO’s biggest challenge is ensuring the brand remains top-of-mind and relevant in an increasingly competitive market. How can you do that? Leverage data to drive personalization efforts. Engage with customers through the channels where they spend their time already. Double down on retention efforts so you stay top-of-mind after purchase. Do something different to stand out, like using chatbots on social media to invite consumers into a one-to-one conversation with you.

Overcome the challenges of data privacy and security with zero- and first-party data: Data privacy is a top consumer priority today. And changes in data privacy regulations are making it harder to gather customer information. However, CMOs can focus on collecting zero- and first-party data directly from their customers — who are often willing to give it if it improves their experience.

Finding and retaining talent: Finding and retaining the right marketing talent amidst a competitive landscape is a challenge for many different industries, not just marketing. The best approach is to identify your priorities and goals and hire for those objectives. As we’ll see in the next section, CMOs can encourage retention by offering flexible working hours, remote working options, and encouraging a positive work-life balance.

Part 5: Hiring and Retention

In today’s economy, marketers are being asked to do more with less. That not only means getting creative with marketing approaches, but ensuring that you have the right talent at hand to efficiently execute those campaigns and strategies. What joys or pain points are CMOs currently experiencing with their hiring and retention?

Top Eight Roles Hired in 2023

In 2023, respondents hired for the following roles:

  1. Digital Marketing Specialist (37%)
  2. Retention/CRM Marketer (36%)
  3. E-commerce Specialist (35%)
  4. UX/UI Designer (34%)
  5. Content Strategist (32% tie)
  6. Data Analyst/Data Scientist (32% tie)
  7. Social Media Manager (32% tie)
  8. Customer Experience (CX) Manager (32% tie)

Other roles include Conversational AI Strategist (31%), Marketing Automation Specialist (28%), Public Relations Specialist (27%), Growth Hacker (26%), Affiliate Marketing Manager (24%), Brand Manager (25%), Influencer Relations Coordinator (22%), and Sustainability Marketing Expert (21%).

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Top Eight Most In-Demand Marketing Roles

These roles will have the highest hiring demands in the next year:

  1. Social Media Manager (26%)
  2. Digital Marketing Specialist (23% tie)
  3. Retention/CRM Marketer (23% tie)
  4. Data Analyst/Data Scientist (22%)
  5. UX/UI Designer (21% tie)
  6. Brand Manager (21% tie)
  7. Marketing Automation Specialist (21% tie)
  8. Public Relations Specialist (20%)

Other roles include E-commerce Specialist (19%), Sustainability Marketing Expert (18%), Content Strategist (16% tie), Customer Experience (CX) Manager (16% tie), Influencer Relations Coordinator (15%), Conversational AI Strategist (14% tie), Affiliate Marketing Manager (14% tie), and Growth Hacker (13%).

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Top Eight Roles That Are Most Difficult to Hire

These are the most difficult roles to hire for at the moment:

  1. Influencer Relations Coordinator (9%)
  2. Digital Marketing Specialist (8% tie)
  3. Data Analyst/Data Scientist (8% tie)
  4. Growth Hacker (8% tie)
  5. Content Strategist (7% tie)
  6. Conversational AI Strategist (7% tie)
  7. UX/UI Designer (7% tie)
  8. Affiliate Marketing Manager (7% tie)

Other roles include Social Media Manager (6% tie), Customer Experience (CX) Manager (6% tie), Marketing Automation Specialist (5% tie), Public Relations Specialist (5% tie), Retention/CRM Marketer (5% tie), E-commerce Specialist (4% tie), Brand Manager (4% tie), and Sustainability Marketing Expert (4% tie).

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56% experienced layoffs in the past year

56% say their marketing department experienced layoffs in the past 12 months, while 44% did not.

44% saw improved employee retention.

44% say employee retention has improved over the past year. 26% say retention has remained relatively stable, while 30% say retention has declined.

Top Five Methods to Retain Staff

To retain staff, CMOs are doing the following:

  1. Offering flexible working hours or remote working options (43%)
  2. Encouraging a positive work-life balance (39%)
  3. Investing in professional development and continuous learning opportunities (37% tie)
  4. Creating clear paths for career advancement within the organization (37% tie)
  5. Fostering an inclusive and diverse work environment (36%)

They’re also implementing a comprehensive employee wellness program (35%), recognizing and rewarding outstanding performance regularly (34%), providing competitive salary packages and benefits (33% tie), hosting team-building events and activities to foster camaraderie (33% tie), soliciting and acting on feedback to make organizational improvements (28%), conducting frequent one-on-one check-ins and performance reviews (28%), and establishing mentorship programs to guide and support junior employees (23%).

Summary/Transition

Over half of the CMOs surveyed had layoffs in their marketing department over the past year, which adds more challenges to executing already complex strategies. Here are some takeaways on hiring and retention.

Use hiring to attack your biggest challenge: The biggest challenge to CMOs is managing the ROI and performance metrics of their marketing campaigns. This is likely why Data Analyst/Data Scientist made the lists of both top hires and most in-demand roles.

Use hiring to increase your channel ROI: The channel with the largest ROI is social media. This is likely why Social Media Manager and Influencer Relations Coordinator made the lists above as well.

Invest in professional development and continuous learning opportunities: It’s one of the ways that respondents are addressing retention. But it’s also a strategy to address in-demand roles or roles that are difficult to hire: upskill with what you need instead of looking for outside talent to fill a description.

Prioritize what’s working for companies improving their retention: Respondents who say their retention has improved prioritized these initiatives: offering flexible working hours or remote working options, providing competitive salary packages and benefits, and implementing a comprehensive employee wellness program.

Part 6: Budget and Spending

With budgets running thin, CMOs need to make sure they’re maximizing the dollars they have by investing in strategies that will impact customer retention and the bottom line. Here are the areas in which budgets are expected to increase and decrease in 2024.

46% expect to see a budget increase

46% expect their budget to increase in 2024. 23% expect it to decrease, and 31% expect it to stay the same.

Top Four Areas of Budget Increase

Respondents say the following areas will receive more marketing dollars:

  1. CRM/retention marketing (44%) 
  2. Content creation and management (41%) 
  3. Email marketing and automation (40% tie) 
  4. Paid marketing (40% tie)
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Top Four Areas of Budget Decrease

Respondents say the following areas will receive fewer marketing dollars:

  1. Social media advertising and promotion (35%) 
  2. Search marketing (33% tie) 
  3. Influencer partnerships (33% tie) 
  4. Branding and creative development (32%) 
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Summary/Transition

Marketers have to do more with less, and in this section, we see it’s true. Here are a few takeaways about marketing budgets for 2024.

Get creative — and more accurate — with your marketing efforts: Only 46% expect to see a budget increase in 2024. Some would say that it’s time to get creative, but maybe it’s time to get more accurate. Double down on your data analysis so that you know exactly how your budget is being spent and what efforts are actually resulting in ROI.

Keep revenue flowing by focusing on retention: A new customer is much more expensive to acquire than what it costs to keep an existing customer. This is why CMOs are focusing their budgets on CRM and retention marketing going forward.

Create more valuable content for customers: In 2024, CMOs are investing more of their budget on content creation and management and less on social media advertising and search marketing. This means they’re relying less on ad spend and SEO and more on creating valuable, engaging, and educational content for their customers.

Part 7: Future Outlook

There are more opportunities today to directly connect with customers and engage them in personalized ways. But effective consumer marketing needs an ever-changing approach that evolves with new customer needs, tech trends, emerging platforms, and the shifting economy. What are CMOs looking at for the future?

Top Six Marketing Priorities for 2024

In Part 1 we learned about their priorities for last year. These are their top marketing priorities for 2024:

  1. Brand reinforcement to strengthen presence and awareness in target markets (13%)
  2. Digital Transformation to further integrate and optimize digital platforms and technologies (11%)
  3. Diversification of marketing channels to expand reach across new and emerging platforms (10% tie)
  4. Customer Experience (CX) to enhance the overall customer journey across touchpoints (10% tie)
  5. Sustainability and ethical marketing to address the growing demand for responsible business practices (9% tie)
  6. Community building and engagement to nurture a loyal customer base through community initiatives (9% tie)

They’re also prioritizing ROI and performance metrics (8% tie), data-driven decision making (8% tie), content strategy revamp (7% tie), personalization and automation (7% tie), and global expansion (7% tie).

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Top Six Tech Trends to Watch in 2024

They’re most excited about these tech trends in 2024:

  1. Personalized AI chatbots (39%)
  2. Interactive and shoppable video content (38%)
  3. Decentralized web and marketing (37%)
  4. Augmented reality (AR) campaigns (35%)
  5. Green and sustainable marketing (34%)
  6. Visual and video search (33%)

They’re also excited about personalized AI chatbots (32%), omnichannel personalization (31%), AI-powered content creation (28%), and behavioral email targeting (26%).

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Top Six Marketing Skills for 2024

These will be the most important marketing skills in 2024:

  1. Data analytics and interpretation to decipher large datasets and derive actionable insights (13% tie)
  2. Content strategy for AI platforms to design content that works effectively with chatbots or recommendation engines (13% tie): 
  3. AR/VR integration and creating and optimizing content for augmented and virtual reality platforms (10% tie)
  4. Personalization and automation mastery for efforts at scale using automation tools (10% tie)
  5. Adaptability and continuous learning to keep up with rapid technological changes and industry shifts (9% tie)
  6. Omnichannel strategy development for seamlessly integrating campaigns across multiple touchpoints (9% tie)

Other important skills include digital storytelling (8% tie), SEO and voice search optimization (8% tie), ethical and sustainable marketing (6% tie), cross-cultural communication (6% tie), blockchain and Web3 understanding (5%), and video production and editing (4%).

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Top Four Places to Source Marketing Trends and Products

Where do respondents primarily source marketing trends and products?

  1. Social media platforms like X, LinkedIn, and other platforms where professionals share insights (17%)
  2. Slack channels dedicated to marketing groups and communities (13% tie)
  3. Webinars, online seminars, and virtual conferences (13% tie)
  4. Community forums in the marketing domain, like Reddit or GrowthHackers (10%)

They also rely on podcasts (9% tie), industry blogs and publications (9% tie), networking events (9% tie), research reports (7% tie), online courses and workshops (7% tie), and peer recommendations (7% tie).

Summary/Transition

CMOs are preparing for 2024’s marketing program by tapping into top trends and technologies to create great customer experiences. Here are some takeaways from what they’re preparing for.

Focus on strategies to increase brand awareness: As we saw above, a CMO’s biggest challenge is ensuring the brand remains top-of-mind and relevant in an increasingly competitive market. That’s why the biggest priority for 2024 is brand reinforcement to strengthen presence and awareness in target markets. Do this by connecting directly with customers and providing them with personalized experiences they can’t get from other brands.

Get started now on personalized AI chatbots: Create AI-driven chatbots to guide customer conversations in social media and messaging apps — as AI is the only way to drive messaging at scale. Train your chatbot on common conversations, give it a personality, and let it engage with customers in a fun and unique way.

Prepare your teams’ skills for 2024: Start looking at ways to train and upskill your team members today in the top skills they’ll need for 2024: Data analytics and AI platform content strategy. 

Stay on top of industry trends: Respondents stay up on industry trends predominantly on social media. They also turn to Slack channels and virtual seminars to learn more about their industry as well.

Part 8: Actionable Takeaways For CMOs

There are many different ways that CMOs can approach their 2024 marketing program and prepare for the future of customer engagement and retention. Start with these five strategies informed by the responses above.

1. Use technology to solve your marketing problems

Marketers need great tech stacks to achieve their customer engagement and revenue goals. Invest in Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Content Management Systems (CMS) so that you can better manage ROI, performance metrics, and customer data. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and personalization engines can also foster personalization at scale. Use conversational AI platforms to facilitate consumer engagements in channels with the highest ROI: social media and private messaging.

2. If consumers are going directly to the brand, invite them in

Take advantage of the rise of DTC customer behaviors by giving them a great experience as they seek out your brand. Carefully map out the customer journey and create systems that leverage automation to ensure each touchpoint. One of the best ways to engage with your customers directly is through one-to-one messaging on the channels where they already spend their time. Simply invite them into a conversation and have your AI chatbot ask guided questions to lead customers through purchase. These interactions allow you to gather zero- and first-party data directly from them as well.

3. Stay relevant with personalization

A CMO’s biggest challenge is ensuring the brand remains relevant in an increasingly competitive market. Relevant to whom? The individual consumer. And they’ll see you as relevant to them by offering personalized experiences that make them feel like a person, not a number. Do this by collecting and using data to drive personalized offers, notifications, direct messages, and more across all your channels.

4. Change your approach to data collection — then use that data

Increasing regulations around data privacy and collection are changing how marketers gather information on their customers. Instead of using third-party data, start collecting zero- and first-party data directly from them. Invest in technology that will manage and analyze that data. Then actually use that data to create more personalized experiences.

5. Don’t be deterred by decreasing budgets

Many CMOs anticipate a lower budget in 2024, which will cause a shift in prioritization. However, lower your risk of wasted dollars by focusing on efforts that get results. Look at executing on channels that have high ROI. Use your data to create more direct and engaging customer journeys. Prioritize retaining current customers over acquiring new ones. Double down on efforts that engage customers one-on-one, like private messaging.

Conclusion

CMOs have to be adaptable to changing trends to continue to see marketing success. In 2024, marketing strategies will need to prioritize efforts that create genuine ROI and retention — like personalization, creative ways to keep the brand relevant in a competitive market, better data collection and use, and leveraging emerging technologies like automation and AI. Will you be prepared to meet the demands of consumer marketing in 2024?

Methodology and Participant Demographics

To provide greater context around these findings, here are more details on who we surveyed and the methodology used. Starting on Nov. 12, 2023, we surveyed 223 CMOs who oversee marketing departments at consumer B2C companies across a number of industries. The survey was conducted online via Pollfish using organic sampling. Learn more about the Pollfish methodology here.

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