Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

According the Krainik, the survey was created based on a two-part hypothesis: 1) a top issue for CMOs this year is potential marketing budget cuts due to the state of the economy; and, 2) CMOs would be faced with making “difficult tradeoff decisions” on where to focus their spending. About 100 CMOs responded to the survey; the respondents represented a mix of industries, and company types and sizes.

Interestingly, the survey found that the economy isn’t having as big an impact as expected, but there are three other areas that are keeping CMOs awake at night.

Nearly 60 percent of CMOs responding to the survey said that their businesses have not experienced a negative impact from the economic slowdown. (Several attendees shouted “yet” when Krainik cited this finding.) And more than 70 percent of respondents said that their 2008 marketing budgets have not been reduced versus their original 2008 plan as a result of the economy. A few attendees suggested that this might be the case because some companies had to cut their budgets from 2007 to 2008, so Krainik took a straw poll of the audience. Only a handful of attendees said their budgets had been cut from 2007 to 2008; about a third of the room said their budgets increased from 2007 to 2008.

Additionally, only one third of the less than 30 percent of respondents whose budgets were cut felt that the reductions were linked to current economic conditions. This translates to only 14 percent of the total number of respondents.

But, if faced with cuts, where would CMOs turn first?

The three top areas CMOs would cut spending in 2008 if necessary are TV/print advertising, trade shows, and events. One theory of why this is the case, Krainik said, is that the importance of social networking and customer engagement is too critical today to cut in those areas. One attendee added that another reason could be that the cost of social media is far less expensive than traditional advertising.

The top three items CMOs would be least likely to cut? Search engine marketing/optimization, online advertising, and public relations. “My job,” was a shout out from the audience.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, only 20 percent of CMOs whose budgets have been cut also had their marketing objectives amended to align with the reductions. For everyone else, the old mantra seemed to apply: Do more with less.

Economy and budgets aside, there were three major issues CMOs cited as their main concerns. The first is talent management—hiring and retaining good people, training them to further develop their skills, and having to do more with the same number of or fewer people. The second main concern is building customer engagement and trust. CMOs are asking, “How can I directly influence customer trust from a CMO position?” The third issue is differentiation. CMOs are looking for new ways to cut through the clutter using messaging, marketing programs, and service delivery.

What’s your main concern as a chief marketer?