SAN JOSE and SAN DIEGO, CA (October 21, 2014)—Chief marketers are fast becoming expert urban planners fighting enterprise data sprawl in their digital marketing technology portfolios. They are being challenged to bring disciplined development and cross-functional harmonization to what is an ever more crowded, data-producing landscape.
A new study published today by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and Tealium, the leader in real-time unified marketing solutions, finds strong links to suggest that improved business and marketing performance are directly related to having a formal roadmap for digital marketing technology acquisition, integration and data unification. The online research is based on Q3 2014 interactions with 150 senior marketers in North America.
Entitled “Quantify How Well You Unify,” the CMO Council report explores how well chief marketers are taking ownership of digital marketing technology strategies and to what degree they are unifying and extracting value from multiplying customer data sources. Among the high points, the study revealed:
Unfortunately, there is a need for master planning when it comes to collecting and analyzing customer-centric data sourced from websites, social networks, mobile apps, online customer communities, and other interactive, self service and self-help channels.
“While 67 percent of survey respondents believe new marketing technologies are essential or very important to overall marketing group performance and effectiveness, they are being held back by technology overload, too many data sources, and lack of strategic application and integration of disparate point solutions and data,” notes Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council, an organization that represents 7,500 chief marketers in 110 countries controlling some $400 billion in aggregated annual spend.
Tealium advises chief marketers to architect a comprehensive “martech” strategy that fully integrates all digital marketing functions, data sources and customer touchpoints. By unifying siloed marketing applications, marketers have a much more robust view of their customers and can drive more personalized and impactful experiences that convert visitors into consumers.
“Most CMOs are unaware of how many digital marketing solutions they are using, and a majority have not defined a coherent and comprehensive marketing technology strategy or a path forward,” adds Tracy Hansen, Chief Marketing Officer of Tealium. “Embracing a unified marketing model generates measurable ROI and improved economics; category innovators and best-practice leaders prove this belief time and again.”
Study Observations
The 37-page report, now available to download for $99, summarizes the quantitative insights of 150 senior marketers and highlights insights from qualitative interviews with leading marketers at Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, Disney ABC Television, See’s Candies and more.
Additionally, the CMO Council will be hosting an upcoming webinar on this topic in partnership with Tealium on October 30, 2014. The webinar will take place at 10AM PST / 1PM PST. For more information or to register, click here.