New Study Reveals the Impact of the Pandemic on B2B CMOs

The latest report from Merkle B2B titled, “New Horizons: B2B CMO Guide to Navigating Complexity.” It is an extension of dentsu’s annual CMO survey, conducted by our research experts at B2B International, only this time we look at the B2B perspective.

Generated from a survey of more than 900 CMOs, covering 12 countries and a wide array of business sizes and sectors, the report reveals what successful B2B CMOs are doing, including what strategies they employ, and how prepared they are to navigate the future.

Through our research we are also able to identify the differences between B2B2C companies and pure B2B companies, showing that pure B2B companies lag behind, but also have some great opportunity to differentiate. 

Key insights include:

• Ninety-three percent of B2B CMOs work at organizations that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
• Enterprise CMOs have less of a focus on long-term brand building as a success metric, and more of a focus on delivering short-term sales and revenue growth.
• Investing in customer experience (CX) is still the top area of focus for both “Frontier” B2B CMOs and “Followers” (75 percent vs. 59 percent).
• The number-one challenge for B2B and B2B2C marketing leaders is “understanding what is a temporary shift in customer behavior versus a permanent change.”

Matt Powell, B2B International Managing Director in London who conducted the research itself, commented on the survey findings, saying, “The research gives unique insights into the world of B2B CMOs and how they have navigated the past 12 months. Importantly, it gives some key learnings about the strategies that separate Frontier B2B CMOs from the rest. Some B2B companies have ground to make up when it comes to customer experience, digital transformation, and creativity in campaigns. But there is opportunity for those who can get ahead of the competition by taking action. The keys to success lie in collaboration with other departments to make things happen quickly and a deep understanding of the customer to make sure things are done in the right way.”

Merkle B2B experts, including Matt Powell, will walk through the report findings in greater detail. Register here. 

Source: Merkle B2B 

  B2B CMOs, CMO Survey, Matt Powell, Merkle, Merkle B2B, Report, Research