2024 CMO report highlights

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Hope your morning’s rolling right along, folks. Mine stalled on a plate of buttered-up waffles. Still, I managed to finish today’s Feature Story that covers a new CMO report (survey of marketing leaders). Then, you can catch up on the following:

The Knowledge Base
~~Self~~ Help
Facts & Stats (TikTok ban history)
Get Hacking (give & get)

Now let’s see what’s up in that CMO report…

32nd Edition of this CMO Report

Sounds official, right? There are serious details in the giant report. Three highlights I’ll start with:

#1 Survey of chief marketing officers showed their top priorities are — “superior product quality, low price, and a trusting relationship.”

#2 “Excellent service” has declined in importance over past two years.

#3 Where would CMOs invest a hypothetical extra $1 million? Hiring talent and developing them.

The third one stood out because it was voted the top choice by far more CMOs than other options — 4x the percentage who would invest the money in content. Also, 4x those who chose investing in analytics. Hiring and talent development were also chosen 2x more than AI and automation.

One concerning fact?

Wasted Martech Tools Highlighted in CMO Report

There’s a ton of wasted martech tools gathering dust, according to the CMO survey.

The three industries utilizing the least martech they have at their disposal? (not a list you want to be atop):

Healthcare
Transportation
Education

All three industries above utilized less than 45% of the martech they had purchased! Why?

Possibly: Privacy concerns with healthcare and education. Transportation businesses may be stuck in traditional ways of doing things despite investing in modern marketing tools.

On that note…

Traditional Advertising Spend Stuck in No-Grow

Traditional advertising marketing spending had negative growth (-2.1%). The newer kids on the block aren’t crushing it either.

Social media advertising dipped too. At least it isn’t in negative territory (11% growth, down from 17% growth).

Which market sector is spending the most on marketing?

B2C Product – the marketing budget was over 14% of both the overall budget and revenue. The only sector close to that was B2C Services, spending 12.7% of revenue on marketing.

CMO Report Shows Strongest Growth In…

B2B companies, smaller companies, and professional services / tech industries.

The most intriguing part of this CMO report?

CMOs’ Reasoning

Survey question: “Why is your company performing better than your market’s average?”

The top answer for success was, “Our strategy was effectively differentiated.”

We’ll get to more reasoning on positive outcomes. First, it’s good to know the top two reasons for the opposite outcome.

“Why is your company performing worse than your market’s average?” Answer: 1) Our strategy was underfunded. 2) Lacked the right go-to-market capabilities.

The “underfunding” reason could be seen as an excuse but… no buts… let’s call it what it is, an excuse! Kidding, totally plausible.

To round out the other top five reasons CMOs say they beat average performance in their arena:

2) Had the right go-to-market strategy

3) Strategy was well-executed

4) Had the right talent for the strategy

5) Well-designed strategy

Now, to wrap this report highlight reel up, let’s see where new intros occurred.

Final Figures from the 2024 CMO Report

Industries that had the biggest leap in new product introductions:

Consumer Packaged Goods
Banking / Finance / Insurance
Tech / Software / Platform

New service introductions:

Professional Services
Banking / Finance / Insurance
Consumer Services

Potential reasons financial-type institutions made both top-3 lists?

Regulatory changes like open banking initiatives and the promotion of financial inclusion
New fintech companies forcing seersucker-suit-wearing bankers to innovate
The younger crowd seeking more personalized and digital-first financial solutions

See the full CMO report here with lots more detail. After a word from our sponsor, we’ll head into The Knowledge Base.

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The Knowledge Base

😍Nostalgia bait marketing breakdown & a bonus video on it

Rejected by Google? Steps to take as a mailer

🎙️Audio notes – turn your cluttered thoughts into clear text

A call to creative arms (by AFLAC Duck creator)

🧠What’s in the way of creativity? (Psychology Today)

The Mariana Trench of remarketing deep-dive guides

🤝Notes on “algorithm aversion” and trust

AI tool to add human models to product photos (video demo)

🎬YouTube’s “pause ads” coming our way?

Some good news ~~Self~~-Help is next, then updated Facts and Stats…

Self Help

Good news for y’all who are seeking your higher self.

You don’t need a guru or time-eating meditation practice or an iron will to find your higher self.

Those may help, but your higher self has already been showing up for years. Keep a journal, and you’ll recognize when that version of you pops in and out. Recognition helps replicate that higher self.

Extra help: Step on the Grim Reaper’s neck and live longer by taking the stairs (new study 4/29/2024).

Facts and Stats

One-third of HubSpot users have trouble with the platform’s learning curve (Aptitude 8 survey)

Just in case… When TikTok was banned in India in 2020, Snapchat downloads doubled there (Stacked Marketer)

Consulting giant BCG says AI consulting will account for 20% of its revenue this year (SuperHuman)

Bonus: What percentage of Americans are self-employed? Answer: 6.6% (OECD.org)

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Questions? Book a Demo.

Get Hacking

Take 20 minutes to scan your inbox. Note one or two special offers that make you feel like the brand is giving you something no other brand bothered to offer you – despite you opening like 90% of their emails!

Now, use those offers to guide you on sending a super-special offer to your VIP email subscribers who open and click on the vast majority of your email campaigns. Only send it to this small but valuable segment. This should improve your deliverability, but most of all, it’ll make those loyal subscribers even more loyal.

(ALT Hack: Update all your authors’ social links and non-social links on article pages. Prove they’re human, have experience, and have written lots of other stuff. It can’t hurt when it comes to Google’s E-E-A-T.)

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