At Beckon, one of our key mantras is, “Great marketing matters”. Here’s a terrific resource that brings that point home—The Adobe CMO Impact Study. This is the second year that Adobe has conducted the study—a survey of nearly 800 CEOs and CMOs designed to ferret out the answer to that question we hear over and over in today’s business environment, “Just what exactly is marketing’s contribution to the business?”
Last year, the report focused on demonstrating that yes, a strong marketing capability matters—greater business success comes to those companies who develop them. This year, interestingly, the report focused on the CMO/CEO relationship and its effect on the business’ marketing capability.
The full report is only available to survey participants, but a recently released executive overview calls out a few share-worthy findings:
1. Great marketing matters. Companies with top marketing capabilities have nearly 2/3 higher market share than companies with lagging marketing capabilities. (Yowza! Of course I’ve always believed great marketing matters, but that’s some serious competitive advantage.)
2. Marketing performs better when the CMO is part of overall business strategy. Firms with top marketing capabilities are 11% more likely to include CMOs in firm-level strategy meetings. (Hear, hear! Marketing isn’t a business function—it’s a core business capability. CMOs should be involved in business strategy.)
3. Analytics matter—turning insight into strategy matters more. Firms with top marketing capabilities are more likely to have more “balanced CMOs”—those with both right- and left-brain training. (Long live both the art and science of marketing!)
4. Companies that commit to marketing are better at it. When CEOs prioritize marketing, their firms have significantly higher marketing capabilities. (No surprise here. As in all things, commitment makes a big difference in performance).
5. Continuity matters. Higher marketing capabilities are reported in firms where CEOs and CMOs were promoted from within the organization. (Now, that’s interesting! But it makes perfect sense—the report cites the fact that promoting from within helps to reduce strategy shifts that can disrupt productivity.)
More on the survey findings is available here: Study: CEOs Who “Get” Marketing A Boon to CMO And the Business.