2014 Predictions for Chief Marketing Officers

International Data Corporation (IDC) hosted a web conference “IDC Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) 2014 Predictions: The Emergence of the Chief ‘Something-or-Other’” highlighting the top 10 market predictions for the year ahead. Featuring Rich Vancil, Group Vice President, IDC’s Executive Advisory Strategies, and Kathleen Schaub, Vice President, CMO Advisory Service, the session provided insight on long-term industry trends along with new themes that may be on the horizon that will most impact the role of the CMO. The Predictions web conference series is designed to help company leaders capitalize on emerging market opportunities and plan for future growth.

The Top 10 Predictions are:

Prediction 1 – The CMO role becomes “open for definition” as today’s CMO job description becomes considerably more complex and critical

Prediction 2 – Innovative CMO and CIO pairs will throw out the rule book when it comes to IT’s support of Marketing

Prediction 3 – By 2020, the Marketing function in leading companies will be radically reshaped into three organizational “systems” – content, channels, and consumption (data)

 

Prediction 4 – The best marketers will understand that “Content Marketing” does not equal “Thought Leadership”

Prediction 5 – Multi-channel coverage becomes an opportunity and a challenge area, as CMOs integrate media silos

Prediction 6 – 80% of customer data will be wasted due to immature enterprise data “value chains”

Prediction 7 – By the end of 2014, 60% of CMOs will have formal recruiting process for people with data skills

Prediction 8 – Only 20% of marketers will receive formal training on analytics and customer data management

Prediction 9 – Fragmented marketing IT point products and low adoption rate will inhibit companies’ ability to win customers

Prediction 10 – Digital marketing investment will exceed 50% of total program budget by 2016

“Buyers are evolving their purchase practices faster than vendors are changing their marketing practices. It’s not a matter of doing the same things better. The Chief Marketing Officer cannot avoid broader responsibility as the digital customer experience bursts traditional boundaries,” says Kathleen Schaub, Vice President of the IDC CMO Advisory Service. “IDC predicts that by 2020, marketing organizations will be radically reshaped. The core fabric of marketing execution will be ripped up and rewoven by data and marketing technology.”