CMO’s Confront 4 Key Challenges, says IBM Study

A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers reveals that most CMOs are well aware of the changing marketing landscape and the need to make fundamental changes to traditional marketing methods of brand and product marketing.  But they are struggling to respond. Their unpreparedness to manage these key changes in the marketing arena presents a great opportunity for advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops. But, only if they are prepared to lead.

The IBM 2011 CMO Study Video News Release:

The study’s findings point to four key challenges that CMOs everywhere are confronting: 

1. The explosion of data – 90% of the world’s data today has been created in the last two years alone.
2. The rise of social media – 56% of CMOs view social media as a key engagement channel
3. Channel and device choices – The growing number of new marketing channels and devices, from smart phones to tablets, is quickly becoming a priority for CMOs.
4. Shifting demographics – New global markets and the influx of younger generations with different patterns of information access and consumption, are changing the face of the marketplace.

Carolyn Heller Baird, CRM research lead for the IBM Institute for Business Value and the global director of the study, likens marketers who underestimate the impact of social media to those who were slow to view the internet as a new and powerful platform for commerce.

“The inflection point, created by social media, represents a permanent change in the nature of customer relationships … Like the rise of e-business more than a decade ago, the radical embrace of social media by all customer demographic categories represents an opportunity for marketers to drive increased revenue, brand value and to reinvent the nature of the relationship between enterprises and the buyers of their offerings.”