Determining their organization’s top marketing and advertising priorities is a primary responsibility of any CMO. Prioritizing their team’s main goals helps a CMO allocate resources and align efforts with the organization’s overall strategy, ultimately driving efficiency and effectiveness in achieving its marketing objectives.
Here, 19 members of Forbes Communications Council explore different priorities that should be on every CMO’s plate heading into Q4. Read on to learn about how CMOs are planning to respond proactively to market dynamics, emerging trends and competitive shifts to ensure their organizations stay agile and competitive in a rapidly changing landscape.
1. Assessing Marketing Programs From Earlier In The Year
Take the time to assess your marketing programs from earlier in the year, particularly those that were tried for the first time. Did they deliver on the desired results? Would you do it again? Hopefully, everyone is trying new things each year while realizing that some will work, and some not so much. – Scott Kolman, Cresta
2. Reallocating Budgets Toward Profitable Actions
As the world faces new economic downturns, a CMO’s No. 1 task is profitability expansion. Companies shouldn’t cut their marketing budgets, though; investments in marketing during downturns often lead to future growth. The best way to maneuver through fluctuations is to reallocate budgets toward the most profitable marketing actions. – Dariia Opanasiuk, Impulse – Brain Training
3. Recommitting To A Robust Brand Marketing Strategy
Stop thinking about the tension between brand and performance marketing. Budgets are getting tighter, and it’s tempting to cut out brand marketing, since performance marketing allows us to attribute clicks and calls. However, brand marketing drives long-term growth. We grew our business by 35% after our rebrand. Bad branding equals bad performance. – Ken Louie, MetroPlusHealth
4. Marketing Internally To Company Employees
Why should CMOs prioritize internal marketing to company employees? Customers more readily believe what employees say about the brand than our “official” marketing messages. Engaged employees who are “fans” of the brand will be better able to build the brand and drive growth. After all, if we can’t turn our employees into fans, how can we expect to turn our customers into fans? – Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson, JMMB Group
Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. Fiscally Planning For Marketing To Fill The Lead Pipeline
CMOs need to scope out what it will take to generate a pipeline number that sales and finance can live with and know how much it costs to run each channel. It’s about more than basic attribution (first, last, multi-touch)—it’s about what is leading to pipeline creation at every stage of the funnel. – Alison Murdock, Trusted CMO, Inc.
6. Representing And Engaging Diverse Audiences
CMOs should have diversity, equity and inclusion at the top of their agenda. Not only do customers want to see themselves and their values reflected in the products and services they buy, but they are also loyal to brands that do this and empowered to call out those that don’t. Authentically representing and engaging diverse audiences through inclusive marketing practices can positively impact a company’s bottom line. – Amber Micala Arnold, MWWPR
7. Investing In Customer Listening And Understanding
Customer listening should be a top priority for CMOs. The needs of customers continue to change almost daily, so it is our responsibility to empower our teams to get feedback from customers continuously—from the creation of concepts through the execution of campaigns. The more we invest in customer listening and understanding up front, the more confidence we can have in the marketing investments we make. – Michelle Huff, UserTesting
8. Understanding How The Business Wants To Innovate
Understand how your business truly wants to innovate its brand and product offerings in the next year, and focus on how best to communicate their value to your audiences. CMOs need to be as aligned as ever with CIOs, CTOs and CPOs to tell a thoughtful, fully developed and compelling brand story. Start with the value you provide to customers, and build your 2024 priorities around them. – Niki Hall, Contentsquare
9. Creating Balance At Work And At Home
The last quarter is all about balance, at work and at home. At work, it’s about balancing the need to meet year-end goals while synthesizing wins, challenges and opportunities to plan for 2024. After articulating our strategy, I use a “people, platforms and processes” framework to get organized. At home, I integrate my work with the need to be present for my loved ones during the holidays to restore, refocus and recharge myself. – Simone Grapini Goodman, American Diabetes Association
10. Staying Up To Date On Consumers’ Needs
Even though the current economic environment may pose some challenges, CMOs must stay up to date on the needs of consumers and ensure their brands resonate with those needs. Creating authentic, genuine content allows marketers to ensure that customers receive the communications they desire. With consumer demand always changing, it will be important for CMOs to continue evolving and bringing value. – Jonathan Kaufman, Sage Dental
11. Discerning Trends From Fads
Q4 provides an opportunity to step back and take a look at the broader picture to identify trends versus fads. Audiences migrate, and consumption changes, but typically not overnight. Adjusting marketing’s trajectory going into the new year keeps everything aligned. – Chris Haller, RealCount
12. Pausing To Reflect On Your Biggest Goals
There are two priorities competing for CMOs’ attention in Q4: hitting the current year’s numbers and planning for the new year. However, I’d argue that a CMO’s top priority in Q4 should be to pause. Take time to look at your biggest goals. Did you meet or surpass them? Is there alignment with your key stakeholders? Don’t ring in the new year without feeling 100% sure that you have your top buckets filled. – John Jorgenson, Cambium Learning Group
13. Thinking About What Will Drive Results Into Next Year
A CMO’s top priority for Q4 2023 should be Q2 2024. Q4 plans should be in the execution phase by now, and CMOs should be thinking about what big things will drive results into next year. Take artificial intelligence, for example. The AI conversation shouldn’t focus on how it can help reduce the number of people needed or increase efficiency as much as how it can improve the quality of marketing and the value of the business. – Matt Naeger, Merkle
14. Optimizing The Customer Experience
As we approach Q4 2023, every CMO must place customer experience at the top of their priority list. In a rapidly evolving business landscape, where customer preferences, behaviors and expectations continue to shift, optimizing CX is the key to sustainable success. Investing in CX will yield significant returns and secure your organization’s future growth. – Antony Robinson, Novalnet AG
15. Deeply Reflecting On Your Marketing Approach
Q4 is a balancing act for a CMO, as they split their focus between the short-term seasonal pressure of delivering strong year-end results and longer-term strategic planning for the year(s) ahead. Given the unique pace of change in 2023 (economic headwinds, AI, the Great Resignation), CMOs need to deeply reflect on their marketing approach—media mix, organizational design and brand distinctiveness. – Nina Etienne, SumUp
16. Putting Together An AI Strategy
CMOs should focus on putting together an AI strategy. With AI’s impact on so much of marketing growing every day, it will be important to have at least a high-level plan in place focused on where opportunities exist for AI to be used by the team, how processes should evolve around AI usage so that it is not a free-for-all, and how to keep the human touch in marketing efforts. – Jill Roberson, Velir
17. Implementing A Data-Driven Marketing Strategy
Make data-driven marketing a top priority for Q4 and beyond. Analyze and decode 2023 data and use it to craft a customer-centric, data-driven strategy to guide you into 2024. It is key to implement a data strategy that respects privacy while still delivering relevant and valuable content; this will serve as a catalyst for brands looking to stand out in this competitive and ever-evolving digital landscape. – Aimee Trusler, Conexio Group
18. Connecting With Partners On Their Annual Plans
Q4 should be a time of planning for 2024 as well as making it through the last-quarter sprint. It is also a great time to connect with partners on their annual plans and capture analytic data to use for marketing programs. – Donna Loughlin, LMGPR
19. Reviewing Your Alignment With Sales
Heading into Q4 is a great time to review your alignment with your sales organization. By having this partnership working seamlessly, with both departments operating in tandem, CMOs can ensure that end-of-year goals can be met. – Jennifer Best, AAE Speakers Bureau
Read the full article here
