CMOs And Digital Marketing Disconnect

In reading through one of the myriad of industry trade mags I peruse,  I ran across an article in BtoB Magazine, written by Kate Maddox and entitled "CMOs See Disparity in Digital Marketing".  "Study finds execs hampered by inadequate internal talent, dependence on agencies . . . "

Kate writes, "A new study by executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, "Companies Falling Short In Digital Marketing"  found that the majority of senior marketing executives believe their companies are behind the curve when it comes to digital marketing.

The study, The Digital Marketing Standard: Executive Perspectives on Digital Marketing, was based on an online survey of 111 CMOs and other senior executives at global companies conducted in November and December.

It found that while 75% of CMOs felt they were at the cutting edge or right where they should be with digital marketing, 60% said their companies were behind the curve.

There is a disparity between CMOs’ self-perception of their digital proficiency and the digital proficiency of the company they are working for, said Lynne Seid, partner at Heidrick & Struggles."

Kate's opening statement caught my attention and made me do a bit more research.  I started with a search on CMOs and "Digital Marketing" and was confronted with a jumble of articles on CMOs opinions on and utilization of digital marketing strategies.

In a Brandweek article on April 18th, Todd Wasserman wrote an article entitled "CMOs Not Happy With Digital".  Tom references the same study by Heidrick & Struggles when he says,

"CMOs see digital as the medium of choice in this economy, but aren’t getting what they want out of it . . . "

In December, the Atlanta recruiting firm polled 111 senior marketing executives at firms with $1 billion or more in annual revenues  about their digital strategies. The impetus, said Lynne Seid, partner in the firm’s global consumer practice, were comments from H&S clients expressing frustration over the fact that so much information exists online about consumers—like their search and social media behavior—and yet marketers felt they were accessing it poorly.

Information on existing customers is especially valuable since in the current down economy, many are focusing on retaining such customers, and cross-selling and up-selling to them, in addition to trying to win over new customers.

Respondents to the survey found their current ability to access ROI and metrics on their digital marketing lacking and rated their companies behind the curve. Many said they would have to look outside the company for help, whether that means hiring new employees or relying on ad agencies—though the marketers said they weren’t happy with their current agencies either.

Time after time in the survey, marketers expressed an awareness of digital’s potential along with a recognition that they weren’t close to tapping it.

Then, in another article on "Marketing Vox" (The Voice of Online Marketing), the headline reads "Marketers Must Up Their Digital Game" and the blog posting goes on to say,

"Despite marketers' general confidence in their own success, their investment plans in simple, task-specific marketing software applications - such as email applications and online surveys - and a corresponding lack of spend in comprehensive operational and data management systems, suggest a critical disconnect in how they hope to achieve executive goals, the CMO Council said.

Additionally, despite the acknowledgement that digital marketing is growing, only 9% of CMOs say they are looking to work more closely with their CIO and IT department.

"Senior marketers clearly need to elevate their game when it comes to integrating IT and data management into their operations and insights," said Neale-May. "At the same time, this year's study indicates senior marketers may be failing to build line of business and executive suite relationships required to build their status and influence in their organizations. In fact, only 7.4% of respondents are even considering positions on their corporate boards.""

My question is why aren't CMOs making more of an effort to address the critical communication possibilities (and realities) of new media?  Whether it's "social marketing", or "viral marketing", marketing with video, you name it.  It seems that the need to prove ROI is continuing to critically impair brands' ability or even willingness to utilize new media more.

Referring back to the Brandweek article,

“On a more granular level, the respondents rated marketing ROI, Web behavioral analyses and CRM as the most important parts of their digital marketing mix. Not many marketers thought that they were good at those functions at this point. Only 18 percent said they were “very satisfied” with their ROI analysis, only 13 percent said the same of their CRM program and 19 percent were happy with their search engine optimization.”

It seems apparent that brands are aware of the potential (and relative low cost) of new media, they simply don't have the internal talent to support the effort.  They have tended to rely on their agency with very mixed results.  Most CMOs do not have the new media tactical experience or understand the philosophy and strategy to properly direct the effort.  CIO and IT deal with issues fundamentally essential to the foundation of new media marketing, but separate from marketing communications and corporate communications strategy, tactics and content.  They aren't experts on telling a story and delivering it at the right time and place in a compelling way.

I'm surprised that corporations and brands of virtually any size aren't more thoughtfully and aggessively finding the talent to help direct their efforts.  I'm not suggesting this is an easy fix, or that there are multitudes of those digital thought leaders out there, but they do exist and are passionate about their contribution to bottom line results.

It's remarkable how slowly brands big and small are seemingly paralyzed in moving their new media marketing efforts forward.  It's like uncertainty is compelling inactivity.  There are multiple new channels available for connecting with consumers.  Those brands who proactively move forward now, will the ones best positioned for significant future success.