Yesterday, I met with the CEO, CMO and CSO at a top 500 software company. It was clear that each executive had a completely different vision of lead generation and how to measure marketing peformance.
This leads to a problem that affects 87% of B2B marketers.
CMOs are being pressured to prove themselves when their company's own culture (enabled by their CEO) may be sabotaging their success.
A new study that was covered in BtoB Magazine showed that CMOs who are effective at measuring their marketing performance are more empowered. Seems like common sense - doesn't it?
Survey: CMOs feel the power
I often ask CEOs how they measure marketing success. Most CEOs know only one thing about their marketing team - how much they spend on their marketing budget. What CEOs really yearn to know is this... what is my marketing team's % of contribution to our revenue?
Most CEOs agree that they aren’t getting enough activity at the top of the sales funnel. Thus their marketers are constantly reminded that more leads are needed. . .now! Ironically, CEOs will lament, why can't I see ROI from marketing?
CMOs are faced with a challenge that they can influence - their company culture. Sam Decker wrote some great thoughts on this topic a while back.
So after I read this study, I'm left wondering... can a CMO (who isn't "empowered" by their CEO or culture) get the tight cooperation they need from sales to prove their revenue contribution (ROI)?
What do you think? Why or Why not?
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