The evolving CMO role
Key changes in the CMO role include a greater responsibility for driving business growth, pressure to demonstrate ROI on marketing initiatives, managing AI-driven initiatives, and collaboration across departments as a central hub.
Despite these expanded duties, marketing budgets worldwide have decreased from 11.0% of total company revenue in 2020 to 7.7% in 2024, according to a May 2024 Gartner survey. This budget pressure is pushing CMOs to do more with less and explore new technologies like generative AI.
As CMO responsibilities expand, some companies are splitting the role. Hyundai recently divided its marketing group into creative and performance divisions. However, this move goes against the general trend, with most companies keeping creative and performance marketing united under one CMO.
“If marketing is strong and they have a strong leader and they are collaborating and they’re achieving business objectives and goals, everything should be fine,” Voss said regarding the debate over splitting CMO duties.
AI’s impact on marketing
More than 75% of CMOs worldwide say AI is positively impacting their marketing efforts, with just 5% not prioritizing AI investments this year, Gartner found.
CMOs are seeing the most ROI from AI in improved time efficiency, increased cost efficiencies, optimized customer data and ad targeting, and enhanced personalization.
Key advice for CMOs
“The best CMOs know what to prioritize and what to work on, what levers to pull that’ll help the business,” Voss said. Effective CMOs focus on how to:
• Build strategic collaborations across departments
• Empower team members in their areas of expertise
• Embrace martech and AI tools to enhance efficiency
• Take chances and test new approaches
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