Research Reveals CMOs’ 2022 Spending Priorities

Budgets and optimism about revenue are on the rise across the C-suite, says Forbes’ recent CxO Growth Survey 2.0. According to the data, eight in ten CxOs expect revenue and earnings to increase over the next year. 

The findings stem from Forbes asking 500 C-suite leaders in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region about their priorities, challenges and opportunities for growth. These same CxOs plan to invest more in areas like artificial intelligence, advanced workflow solutions and blockchain—with 31% saying their company’s investment in blockchain would rise between 1-15% in the next two years. 

Marketing is a crucial component to driving revenue growth, and Forbes wanted to know where CMOs plan to focus their time and energy to meet the C-suites’ expectation of increased revenue. The good news? Marketers will have more to work with. More than half of marketing leaders said their overall marketing budget would increase over the next year. 

As for where they’ll be focusing, we found five areas marketers will be zooming into—and data and diversity proved vital throughout.

Increasing customer data privacy and protections

Data privacy and protections will be (if they’re not already) a central focal point for CMOs. Our survey found that 38% of marketers will focus on customer data privacy and protections over the next two years. Plus, more than 1 in 3 will enhance cybersecurity to ensure the safety of customer data. 

This initiative also comes as good news for CIOs who noted cybersecurity as a top challenge in the year ahead. Based on our data, you can expect CMOs and CIOs to work closely together on privacy solutions.

 Using data to drive marketing strategy

Move over content because data is now king. Over a third (38%) of CMOs said they would use data to drive their marketing strategies and companies over the next two years. The rest of the C-suite is on board with this, too, with nearly a quarter (24%) of CxOs saying they’ll increase their organizations’ investment in big data and analytics by 16-30% over the next two years. 

Building a more diverse marketing team 

The Great Resignation is still in full swing, and our survey found that nearly 1 in 4 CHROs believe their organization’s biggest talent gap in the next 12 months will be in marketing and sales. The good news? 

Marketing leaders plan to hire more diverse team members to fill the gap and make up for what was already a gap in the first place. Our research found that 35% of CMOs plan to build a more diverse marketing team and hire more agency partners that prioritize diversity. 

Elevating diverse voices and perspectives in campaigns

Representation internally is only part of the mission; marketers must also consider who their marketing campaigns represent externally. One of our previous digests on DE&I mentioned a study that found only 1.9% of the characters in ads featured at the Cannes Lions Festival included LGBTQIA+ individuals. 

Even though 74% of CMOs agree that consumers are more likely to engage with content that features diverse voices, only 31% of them say they plan to focus on elevating diverse voices and perspectives in campaigns over the next two years. Hopefully, these numbers will rise before consumers start to fall.

Expanding the marketing team’s skill-set

As budgets get an upgrade, so will skill-set training. Over the next two years, 30% of CMOs will focus on expanding their marketing team’s skill-set. How so? With the help of HR. Forty percent of CHROs reported that they plan to invest in new platforms for e-learning and external training for their teams. Further, 39% will be focusing on developing employees’ soft skills, and 34% are formalizing mentoring and coaching programs. 

This dual focus is yet another example of CMOs partnering with other members of the C-suite to achieve business goals. Given that nearly three-fourths of CMOs increasingly believe their role is to act as unifiers within their organizations, partnerships like these are something you’re likely to see more of.

Read Also: How Adobe Uses Data To Tell Better Stories

Storyteller Spotlight 

Using marketing solutions that are driven by data is the best way to respond to changes brought about by Covid-19. 

That was one of the key takeaways offered in a BCG BrandVoice post by Sarah Willersdorf, a partner, managing director and global head of luxury at Boston Consulting Group since 2015.

In the Q&A that was published on Forbes in the fall of 2021, Willersdorf encourages marketers to invest in data-driven solutions and suggests four strategies they can take to accelerate the digital maturity of their operations.

“The best marketers use data for end-to-end measurement,” she said in the post. “They build an in-depth understanding of the entire customer journey and continuously optimize content. They make data-driven and digital ways of working the norm.”

Forbes and BCG published the post as an Executive Agenda, a product unveiled last year that makes it easy for client executives to share their thought leadership in their own voices, at a lower cost and faster than ever.

Read the post: Marketing in the Age of Disruption

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