Page 12 - index

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

451 Research urges CMOs to be cautious:

Integration and customer profiling are the biggest

roadblocks to digital marketing success

Against a backdrop of hype about new digital marketing Furthermore, very few organizations have the overarch-
tools, 451 Research unveiled its report The Contempo- ing information architecture required to support the cus-
rary CMO’s Toolkit 2.0, highlighting the technical and tomer data requirements to meet this vision. They lack
organizational challenges CMOs are facing. both the expertise and process maturity.

In “The Contemporary CMO’s Toolkit 2.0,” Research 451 Research analysts are urging caution, particularly
Director Alan Pelz-Sharpe and Senior Analyst Matt Mul- for those enterprises considering large-scale adoption.
len take an in-depth look into the current state of the With vendors betting large sums through acquisitions
Digital Marketing sector, and offer up some key find- and VCs providing considerable startup funding, there’s
ings: a race to promote products in this sector.

1. For digital marketing to be successful, it needs to There are indications that the messaging is having
be successfully integrated with sales and customer some effect, with potential customers generally agree-
service operations. It needs to offer customers a ing that digital marketing could have a positive effect on
consistent and holistic experience. their operations, but that is not reflected in a parallel
2. Integration with sales and customer service opera- upswing in spending.
tions is rare in larger organizations (where digital
marketing adoption rates are consistently higher), "An all-powerful CMO, someone who ultimately over-
and there is typically a poor overall customer expe- powers the CIO with a greater spending power, seems
rience and lack of a unified strategy regarding cus- far from reality. In fact, there seems to be little to no
tomer service and sales. This remains one of the hard evidence to support that somewhat wild predic-
single biggest challenges facing organizations to- tion,” says Senior Analyst Matt Mullen. “A great deal of
day. cash has been bet in the form of vendor acquisition and
3. Vendors of newer digital marketing technologies startup funding; while there are indications that the
based on social media and advanced analytics messaging is having some effect across the market,
that is not yet delivering a parallel upswing in spend-
should lower expectations based on buying pat-
terns in 2014. Most buyers are still focusing most of ing.”
their digital marketing efforts on email campaign
management. 451 Research, the information technology research and
advisory company, is a division of The 451 Group and
While contemporary CMOs are starting to believe that focuses on technology innovation and market disrup-
digital marketing will address the shifting expectations tion to provide insights into today’s digital economy.
of customers, most marketing organizations lack the More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that
technical skills to deploy the highly complex data-driven insight via syndicated research, advisory services, and
customer profiling and personalization that vendors in live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North
this marketplace are offering. America, Europe and around the world.
Further reading: The CMO vs. the CIO – who will win
the battle for IT? ◊

By MediaBUZZ
12 Asian eMarketing November 2014 - Cross-, Multi-, Omni-Channel & Everywhere Commerce