The CMO Challenge: Is data a help or hindrance for the modern marketer?
“Fundamentally I think that we have all this amazing technology, and there is all this talk around digital transformation. But what hasn’t changed yet, in my opinion, is technology working really hard for us. Are we just working harder because there is more technology around us?”
Data: a help or a hindrance?
In the last of our CMO Challenge series, we hear from Mark Johnston, Marketing Director at DOMO who talks about the changing role of CMOs today; the challenges they face, how they can improve ROI through digital in-house strategies and whether data is a help or hindrance to creativity and effectiveness.
New projects, strategies and initiatives are on all our minds as we move into 2019. Just in case you missed them the first time around, Johnston will also recap on the first two sessions of this series - Does it really work? (from Jason Burby, former President, Possible, Chief Customer Officer at Domo) and how L'Oréal redefined its brand strategy (from Chris Fender, L’Oreal UK’s head of digital operations and measurement).
The CMO is still relatively unknown in comparison to other C-suite roles – and often has a much shorter lifespan. CMOs also often wear many other hats other than marketing – needing to think about transformation of the company, consumer culture, and owning the customer experience end to end – all while proving effectiveness (and proving it consistently).
“It’s tough to be a CMO,” says Johnston. “You’re expected to do more, know more, have more influence over an organisation’s success. You’re operating in an increasingly complex environment, with technology and customer insights from everywhere, and you’re having to be an execution machine. And sometimes that means you’re having to be an execution machine at the expense of the bigger strategic insights you’re trying to drive within your organisation.”
Johnston also talks about whether data really is the ‘new oil for organisations.’ Should we forget data and measuring things, or being ROI accountable at the expense of creativity? Is there a sweet spot of being creative and being accountable?
“Data is no longer just the role of the analyst or the marketing analyst. It is every single marketers’ role. I don’t care if you’re the most blue-sky creative person at an agency or a junior exec, you should be thinking about how you can work more with data every day.”
Register below to view to the webinar be to find out how you can use data and technology to work harder for your business.