As the industry prepares to meet potential economic headwinds, 66 percent of marketing leaders are just moderately confident or worse in their ability to achieve their goals amid economic adversity and uncertainty, according to CMO Council’s latest report. Moreover, 78 percent of marketers surveyed expressed concerns about the lack of investment or budget cuts. The report, dubbed “Outsmart Adversity: How CMOs Can Weather Economic Headwinds and Emerge Poised for Growth,” surveyed approximately 500 global marketing leaders.

When considering proactive solutions, the majority of them—68 percent—agree that it’s critical for CMOs to collaborate with CIOs to develop competitive customer experiences. That includes leveraging AI and data to become more predictive, articulating marketing’s value to impact revenue, and growing loyalty, retention and customer lifetime value through social and personalization.

Budgets

Though some marketing leaders lack confidence in dealing with economic uncertainty, deep budgets cuts are less of a concern, according to the report. Thirty-six percent of marketing budgets are increasing, compared to 33 percent decreasing and 31 percent staying the same. Similarly, martech investments are increasing for 36 percent of respondents.

Martech Investments

The report found that the top three marketing initiatives in the next 12 months entail orchestrating customer journeys to drive omnichannel experience (21 percent), drive customer acquisition and growth (20 percent) and leverage AI and data to scale analytics (17 percent). In terms of martech investments, these top four themes emerged: campaign execution and management platform, marketing automation platform, digital experience platform and customer data platforms.

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Rumble Boxing, a boutique fitness brand known for its high-energy workouts and ’90s hip-hop vibe, was born in a city. But since its Big Apple founding in 2017, the franchise has expanded to 25 studios across the U.S. and, most recently, set up shop in Australia and the Dominican Republic. We spoke with Rumble Boxing CMO Rachelle Dejean about the brand’s growth strategy, marketing a boutique fitness brand, experiential strategies and how representation at both the national and local levels fuels its diversity mission.

Chief Marketer: Diversity and inclusion are a priority at Rumble Boxing. How are you implementing your strategy company-wide?

Rachelle Dejean, CMO of Rumble Boxing: At the end of the day, it really starts with representation. So, making sure that we’re showing our whole membership base, which is a very diverse one, from all backgrounds, shapes, sizes, athletic ability, fitness levels, from pro to amateur, and showcasing that, from content on social to emails to big campaigns. It was really important for me, as we started to scale up the new locations for our studios, that we’re not just telling the trainer story. Our trainers are very fit. They have become experts in their craft. But that only represents a very specific type of person. Bringing our members to a pedestal as well allows us to showcase real people, too.

So, representation would be first and foremost, and then we want to make sure we’re taking moments, not just in seasonal times of the year, to band with different charity organizations or networks that support and uplift different marginalized groups that may not otherwise have had that type of support. The easiest thing we can do is represent, and then on a larger scale, we fundraise and support specific groups nationally and locally. It’s really important for me to give my franchise partners in our system the opportunity to do the same.

CM: Do you have any advice to other women in business who are leading marketing teams at boutique brands?

RD: At the end of the day, we have a lot of tried and true processes. We don’t necessarily need to be reinventing the wheel when it comes to marketing. Social has been around for a while now. Yes, it continues to evolve, but that doesn’t mean you have to be on every single channel to be relevant. So, really lean into your KPIs. I work closely with our sales team because we know it’s not just the top of the funnel that matters. It’s what is at the bottom. And as a female sitting in this seat in this industry, I think it’s also important to trust your gut and speak up when you have the opportunity to do so when you feel strongly about something.

CM: What do you think makes a successful fitness brand in 2022?

RD: There’s so many great players in the boutique space that do their own thing really well. At Rumble, we need to lean into what makes us different rather than trying to replicate. So, finding what really sticks true to the brand and our core values and not trying to act like someone else, because then your members can get on board with that. You can start to build that community. Rumble builds this space for them, and it’s something that they can just come into, shut the world off and enjoy.

CM: What specific elements of the brand have helped create that community?

RD: When Rumble was founded, it was built on sneaker culture, black iconic influences and a ’90s old school hip-hop mentality, where you cut the fluff. There’s a New York attitude. What makes us great is the programming, paired with boxing and the custom equipment. We have a program that culminates with our freestyle Rumble rounds. You mix that with our sneaker culture, and it’s a different experience than what you might otherwise see at another workout facility.

CM: Where do you find your inspiration? Do you look to other brands in the marketplace?

RD: I love to look at brands outside of the fitness industry. For instance, what big campaigns are rolling out around the Super Bowl? How are they treating this video, this concept, this theme to relate it to their product? I find a lot of great ideas and inspiration from product-based companies that have no crossover into the fitness franchise space.

CM: What growth strategies are you using to expand the brand?

RD: Having spent almost four years with Club Pilates, we were able to hone in on identifying a scalable strategy for different markets. Rumble first came to market in densely urban populated areas. But now we’re going to be scaling across the country with 200 territories sold in some locations that maybe don’t have as much awareness of Rumble. When it comes to building that opening plan for our franchisees, we’re leaning into the tried-and-true marketing channels, but grassroots is a big canvasing, on-the-ground effort that we lean into as well.

CM: What are some results you can share that illustrates your success?

RD: Off the cuff, at Xponential Fitness we acquired Rumble with 15 locations open, and those flagship locations have now turned into 25 total studios across the U.S. We have a master franchise agreement in Australia. The first studio just opened a couple weeks back. We also have an international expansion happening in Dominican Republic. By the end of the year, we’ll have several more locations open in the U.S. We hit our first milestone of 200 territories sold in February, so we are excited to continue to ramp up.

CM: Rumble Boxing is inherently experiential, but are you creating any additional experiences outside of the gym?

RD: Currently, we are hosting our first-ever Block Party. It’s a seven-day challenge where you empower yourself to punch into seven themed daily playlists with [brand new] music and ideally reach a six class milestone. With experiences outside of the gym, we’ve been able to lean into building on brand awareness in new markets with Rumble-inspired, pop-up workouts outdoors, so potential new members get excited about signing up and joining us in the studio. Now, nothing is going to compare to the bags inside the studio, seeing those swing and feeling the reverberation as you punch them, but we like to offer that inspired workout in our communities as well.

CM: How did the pandemic shift your marketing strategy?

RD: In the midst of the pandemic, like many other fitness brands and boutique studios, we definitely had to pivot. At that time we started ramping up on demand and live workouts. That was on Instagram Live, our first on demand platform. Since then, we’ve obviously seen people want to get back to that connection in person with their trainers, with their fellow members in studio and group workouts. While that is going to be the biggest opportunity for you to participate with Rumble as a member, we do still offer on demand workouts. Our Xponential Plus on demand platform includes workouts from Rumble and our other Xpo brands.

CM: Lastly, how are you using data to drive your marketing?

RD: It’s all about those numbers, especially when we are working so closely with specific sales KPIs that we need to reach. We leave no marketing stone unturned. We do have a pretty extensive email marketing and automation process in place, but at the local level, we also have organic touchpoints that are going to continue to bring leads into that sales funnel.

We know we’re talking to a savvy, younger audience. Our core demographic is in that millennial sweet spot age. So, we may find them on Instagram and Facebook, but we’re also hitting them in their inbox and even text follow-ups. But I did hint earlier about grassroots and how that’s so important for ramping up and building that grassroots and community feel. Things like the Block Party that we have going on right now can be influenced by that face-to-face connection.

When it comes to data, we’re honing in on our email marketing strategy and how we continue to push into those conversions at the end of the day. But locally and nationally, we have strategies in place that our member management platform allows us to continue to track. We’re excited to see studios ramping up. Our first Denver location just hit 500 members and they opened not too long ago. It’s important for us not to just track our first milestones by soft-open and grand-open, but also retention. We have a lot of tools in place to help us do that, so we can keep the community strong, keep our members on that pedestal and ideally bring those return visits and help them reach their fitness goals.

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Andrea Brimmer, CMO of Ally Financial:

With the pace of change right now, you need to stay on top of what’s happening not only in your industry, but in the world. I have a robust learning agenda and I encourage my team to do the same. I try to spend a third of my time seeking out new viewpoints, learning about new technologies and reading the latest consumer research to keep up not only with what’s happening today, but with what’s next.

I spend time with the companies I admire and the people that I admire. Not just CMOs but CEOs, CFOs, technologists, so I can learn from them. I think the mindset of constant innovation, learning and disruption will never be replaced by an algorithm. It helps you develop a golden gut and deploy it to help move your business forward. A golden gut, well informed by an active learning agenda, makes you indispensable within any organization.

Kelly Gillease, CMO of NerdWallet:

The role of the CMO has really expanded. The responsibilities can vary a lot by company and can include things like research, marketing technology, design, UX, all sorts of things. CMOs are expected to be proficient in a lot of skills, whereas previously they were traditionally good at brand marketing and building brands. There’s a whole host of things now that CMOs can be responsible for, and interestingly, it’s become more common for CMOs to play a big role in conversations around diversity and inclusion.

You’re considered a brand ambassador a lot of the time. What are our brand values? How do we want to talk about that or have that come to life within the company? Who do we cast in our TV ads, and how does that reflect our brand values and what we look like? What channels did these ads appear on? What kind of messages are we sending? All these questions become very important.

Also, CMOs have employee stakeholders. As we think about the nerds at NerdWallet, our marketing decisions at the company that we reflect out to the world also get reflected to our employees. And there’s a certain amount of folks who are internally happy with that and feeling like that’s going in the right direction. I’m not sure that was as prominent before, for CMOs to think about employees as a stakeholder group.

Raja Rajamannar, Global CMO of Mastercard:

The CMO has talk the language of the CEO and the CFO. If the CEO asks you what your campaigns have done for driving up margins or driving up retention for renewal, or how it impacted the margin, have definitive, clear answers. Don’t waffle along the lines of, “my brand has gone up so much, customer sentiment has improved.” CMOs and marketing people care deeply about marketing KPIs, but the CEO and the CFO, are looking more at the true business impact. If you don’t connect the dots within your marketing actions and the financial or business reserves of the company, you will become obsolete and irrelevant.

Number two, many CMOs have come from the creative side of the house. They are probably not very data-savvy or finance-savvy, so there has to be a clear connection established. Say, with this campaign, this is what it has done for the business. Also, you have to [present] your digital investment models in a way that is very credible. For example, at Mastercard some years back I appointed a CFO in marketing. She made sure that everyone has bought into the methodology and then started actually showing those results with regular frequency, which boosted the level of transparency and trust.

Third, the time for marketers to behave as functional specialists is gone. Today’s marketing is not just about a functional aspect of managing marketing. It is a true general management job. They need to understand technology. They need to understand numbers. They need to understand data. They need to understand PR and communication—a very critical area. If you look at all this, the CMO is a general manager who has a deep functional expertise in marketing but is not a marketing specialist. He or she has a broad understanding of all the other areas as well. My advice, particularly for people who want to be CMOs in the future, is to make sure that they have experience in areas outside of marketing so that they come back into it as a well-rounded professional. You need to enlist yourself to learn, to update your knowledge. Gain experience that’s across multiple functions and truly build a general manager profile for yourself.

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The firm polled more than 50 fractional CMO consultants serving Fortune 500 companies about business performance and challenges in 2020. Following are additional key takeaways from the Market Trends 2020 report and an inforgraphic detailing the findings, here.

• 72 percent of CMOs say greater collaboration is happening between organizational entities in order to meet company-wide growth.
• In terms of achieving that growth, understanding the customer and developing relevant strategy are the first and second most vital ways to do that.
• Approximately one third of businesses expect to bring more marketing agency work in-house in order to reduce costs.
• Looking at content focus for CMOs, the survey showed video, blogging and case studies as the top three priorities.
• Keeping up with technological advances is major challenge, with 88 percent of CMOs surveyed saying it’s difficult to keep pace.
• CMOs expect that private equity partners in particular will be more demanding of growth this year.
• 54 percent of CMOs believe retailers will see Amazon’s dominance as a negative, with just 14 percent viewing it as a positive.
• In order to thrive amidst Amazon’s dominance, a direct-to-consumer strategy for retailers is recommended by 53 percent of CMOs.
• Experiential marketing campaigns will continue to be used to encourage brand advocacy.
• Advancements in predicative analytics will particularly influence predictive modeling of consumer behavior, qualification and prioritization of leads, and customer targeting and segmentation.

Other articles you might enjoy:

• The CMO Reckoning Isn’t a Coincidence
• Getting to the C-Suite: How Six CMOs Rose to the Top
• CMO Roundtable: Visa, Personal Capital, AKT and Zoom Talk 2020 Marketing Trends

The post Chief Outsiders’ Survey of CMOs Reveals 2020 Digital Marketing Trends appeared first on Chief Marketer.

For several months, persistent buzz has ensued about CMOs going the way of the dinosaur because of the increasing influence of data-fueled technologies. But data isn’t going to kill off the CMO. In fact, Coca-Cola just reversed its two-year-old decision to do away with its global CMO title by bringing it back and naming Manolo Arroyo for the role.

CMOs like Arroyo have more data than ever, and that data can now better measure ROI than ever before. If they understand the nature of their modern role, they can understand how an OOH ad, a streaming ad, a podcast ad or any other campaign actually affected sales.

Therefore, the right data is empowering, not threatening. The question should be more around whether you have the right data. If CMOs have the right data, their roles won’t be threatened.

After the last year—even with Coke’s U-turn—some may call my opinion counterintuitive. In 2019, McDonald’s and Johnson & Johnson ditched their CMO roles in favor of giving more power to titles like chief growth officer or chief customer officer. Due to the sheer magnitude of those historic brands, many an industry watcher said their moves were a death knell for the CMO. But CMOs can wrest that power back in 2020 if they change their mindsets about data. Data should, by now, be baked into the role of the CMO. Here are two mindsets that reveal a CMO today who is not only going to survive but thrive.

Other articles you might enjoy:

• CMO Roundtable: Visa, Personal Capital, AKT and Zoom Talk 2020 Marketing Trends
• The CMO Reckoning Isn’t a Coincidence
• Getting to the C-Suite: How Six CMOs Rose to the Top

Value data-inspired masterstrokes as much as gut-level genius
Many CMOs have climbed the ladder of success thanks to creative, right-brain talents. But that mindset is from the past, and there are now many avenues for data-driven success for CMOs—and believe it or not, many routes drive straight toward creativity for TV, mobile and social media advertising.

For instance, Burger King, led by CMO Fernando Machado, a year ago combined creativity with mobile data for geo-conquesting efforts that epically trolled rival McDonald’s. The tag line, Whopper Detour, wouldn’t have been possible without the location data powering the effort, which offered consumers a Whopper for one penny whenever they were within 600 feet of a McDonald’s. The data-driven effort garnered Burger King a Cannes Lions Grand Prix award.

While Burger King offers inspiration for mobile marketers, the out-of-home (OOH) advertising space might be the most interesting application of the equation: data + creativity = success. There’s been a resurgence, if not a renaissance, in OOH, an $8 billion industry in the U.S. that’s expected to double by 2023. IKEA, under the direction of CMO Peter Wright, understands the strength that can be wielded when combining data intelligence with OOH creativity.

The home furnishing brand’s location in the London suburb of Greenwich, England, was opened with considerable fanfare because it was the most environmentally sustainable IKEA ever. Billboard ads in Greater London directed potential shoppers to the new store, encouraging them to take the most eco-friendly transportation—walking. The signage informed passersby of the approximate number of steps it would take to visit the IKEA from their location, and that statistic was accompanied by a large arrow, pointing them in the right direction. The OOH campaign garnered considerable attention from the ad world and provided the industry with another example of data-driven creativity.

Brian Czarny is CMO of Factual

The post The CMO Role Is Evolving Rather Than Going the Way of the Dinosaur   appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Traditionally, marketers survive and thrive because at the end of the day we are the champions of the customer and stewards of the brand. But this time around, something is different. Consumers, policy groups and nonprofit players from across the ideology spectrum are calling for greater accountability and transparency for global technology companies. And that timing is not a coincidence. While top brands are making strides in driving innovation and contributing to powerful causes, the technology industry as a whole has stumbled in conveying a cohesive, authentic and purpose-driven brand narrative beyond products alone. The consequences of this are now abundantly clear.

Despite the uncertainty, best-in-class marketers are charting a course for the future of the entire industry. By embodying a creative, holistic and data-first brand identity, organizations have an opportunity to not only earn back trust in the hearts of consumers, but marketers now have the ability to demonstrate tangible ROI and justify the impact their efforts have.

Here’s an exploration of how we arrived here and how marketers can change the conversation by speaking the language of their customers:

The New Business: Purpose-Driven

The digital economy is massively interconnected. Nothing a brand does exists in a vacuum—every single touchpoint across every single channel, digital or otherwise, contributes to a single story. As a result, products, experiences and identity are now shared resources between brands and their communities. That’s why purpose emerged as such an influential factor in how people connect with brands. It’s an emotional anchor that puts all of these different elements into context. In fact, 91 percent of consumers would switch brands if a different one was purpose-driven and had similar price and quality.

But, because the digital marketplace is so far reaching and brands can engage with consumers in so many different ways, it changes the way brands need to think about their place in the global ecosystem. What do we have to say about the issues our customers care about? How can we take responsibility for our impact? The next generation of marketers are taking a leading role in not only defining a brand’s identity and purpose, but bringing that story to life in a unique, creative way that authentically resonates with consumers.

Other articles you might enjoy:

• Getting to the C-Suite: How Six CMOs Rose to the Top
• Three Ways Marketing and Technology Can Collaborate on Digital Transformation
• Seven Customer Retention Predictions for 2020

The New Customer: Engaged but Cautious

Audiences have never been more empowered and informed. The same digital economy that empowers marketers to tell new and meaningful stories has also enabled consumers and employees alike to become highly involved in brand communities. Social media networks give core stakeholders a wide platform to either advocate for, or call out, a brand. Late flights, poor food service or even a particularly exceptional interaction with a customer service rep—all of these have made their way online and are meaningfully contributing to brand reputation. However, even with heightened voices, these digital-first consumers are wary. They’ve witnessed firsthand the consequences of mismanagement, especially with data, and are more likely to believe that brands are focused on profit over people and their best interests.

When it comes to overcoming these barriers and connecting with consumers of the future, marketers hold the keys to the kingdom. By capturing their voice and translating it in to hyper-personalized, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, marketers are winning back customer respect and trust. It might be an uphill climb, but the cure for customer cynicism is empathy, thoughtfulness and the tenacity to show up for them again and again. And not just when you have something to share. When they talk, you have to listen and respond.

The New Technology: Deeply Human

In the past when CMOs were called to justify their value, a common talking point was the difficulty of measuring marketing attribution and ROI. But an important shift has occurred and is changing the way marketers cement their value within an organization—access to better data and analytics. Through technology, like never before, marketers are now able to quantify and measure abstract concepts like feelings and loyalty and tie them directly to business objectives and functions. For example, we can look beyond the number of times a piece of content has been downloaded and get to the heart of why it resonates with the readers in the first place.

Measurement is upending not only marketing, but entire organizations and even industries. Products can be completely redesigned around the emotional response customers have, experiences can be crafted down to the individual level and there is greater visibility to focus marketing investment on growth areas—the opportunities are endless. Tomorrow’s Chief Marketing Officers aren’t just the champions of the customer, they own this data and lead authentic customer-centricity.

The New CMO: Community Champions

Businesses today are fundamentally different. Even customers and employees are fundamentally different. And the technology businesses use to build a cohesive brand narrative are advancing at an ever-quickening rate. But one thing that remains steadfast is that people will always crave evocative and compelling narratives. These stories inspire deeper connections and investment in a brand. As customer expectations continue to evolve and they demand more from businesses, CMOs will lead the charge for the new chapters that lay ahead. Communities are calling for brands to be involved members of society who leverage their capabilities to build exceptional experiences—and marketers are answering that call.

Alicia Tillman is Global Chief Marketing Officer for SAP

The post The CMO Reckoning Isn’t a Coincidence  appeared first on Chief Marketer.

The average CMO lifespan at 100 of the top U.S. ad spenders slipped to 3.7 years in 2018 from 3.8 in 2017, compared to CEOs average 7.4 years, and CFOs nearly 5.3 years, according to executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

To get a few answers to that gaping disparity, Engage Talent conducted research that may provide some clues.

Ten percent of CMOs are interested in changing jobs while 7 percent are extremely interested.

More than other key C-suite leaders, CMOs appear to be open to changing jobs, Forbes reported.

• CMOs are more dissatisfied than other C-Suite leaders.

“In my research and work with C-level marketers, I have found a number who are generally unhappy with their role,” Kimberly A. Whitler, a Forbes senior contributor wrote. “In some cases, the CEO doesn’t respect marketing, making it difficult for the CMO to lead an agenda. In other cases, the firm norms are to marginalize marketing.”

• CMOs prefer change more than other C-Suite leaders.
“In discussions with CMOs regarding why turnover is higher among marketers than other functions, some mention that marketers are more comfortable with risk and seek change more often than other functions,” she wrote.

Other articles you might enjoy:

• Hiring Qualified Marketing Talent is Challenging in 2019: Survey
• A Recession is Coming: Is Your Talent Strategy Built to Last?
• Forever 21 and Macy’s Upset Women with Dumb Marketing

Meanwhile, when a marketer departs, new research indicates that filling open positions might take longer than you think.

Eighty-three percent of marketing roles take more than five weeks to fill, according to the 2019 Marketing Talent Crunch Survey, conducted by Spear Marketing Group.

“If the reason that many CMOs leave is because of a need for change, companies can take steps to keep CMOs challenged and engaged, preventing needless turnover,” Whitler added.

The post Dissatisfaction Top Reason CMOs Move On appeared first on Chief Marketer.