Marketing is working more closely with the CEO and getting more engaged in big investments, finds a joint Marketing2020 study by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and EffectiveBrands. Based on the responses of 250 CMOs and more than 10,000 marketers across 92 countries, the study indicates that 58% believe that marketing works closely with the CEO on business strategy. That’s up from 38% in a comparable study conducted in 2006 by Booz Allen Hamilton.
Moreover, 33% of respondents claim that marketers approve large growth-oriented investment decisions, also up significantly, from 19% of respondents to the 2006 study.
The Marketing2020 study isn’t the first to find a growing role for marketing. A recent study from Forrester Research and the Business Marketing Association found 78% of B2B CMOs saying that the marketing organization’s influence on corporate strategy has become much greater, with 56% agreeing that they’re spending more time in front of the board of directors. Meanwhile, a study released late last year by the CMO Council found that senior marketers from a range of industries assuming more of a leadership role within their organizations.
Marketing’s growing role doesn’t come without associated pressures, of course. A recently-released study from Duke University revealed that 2 in 3 CMOs are feeling pressure from their CEO or Board to prove the value of marketing. Additionally, 6 in 10 of those said that their leaders are turning up the heat, with just 2% reporting decreasing demands to prove their worth. Even more recently, Forrester found only 1 in 2 B2B marketers agreeing that marketing’s financial value is clear to their business
, with another study from Adobe suggesting that 8 in 10 marketers believe that proving marketing’s business impact or ROI will only get more important.
Clearly, increased organizational influence brings with it added pressures, but marketing’s influence is greater in some industries than others. According to the 2020 study, 64% of CPG marketers agree that marketing works closely with the CEO on strategy, but that number falls to 50% of manufacturing company respondents, 49% of financial marketers, 41% of healthcare marketers, and just 34% of respondents from energy and utility companies.
