New survey finds that marketing leaders are struggling to develop talent, navigate this volatile economic climate and the changing digital landscape.

Future-Ready CMO, a community-based organization committed to helping marketers become a force for constructive global change, today announced new findings from its 2023 Future-Ready CMO Study. The first annual survey, conducted by S2 Research, found nearly 70 percent (69%) of respondents believe that both cultural and business practices are not changing fast enough and will require a much more significant commitment. At the same time, many marketing leaders believe the top three pain points are developing talent, navigating volatile and uncertain economic conditions, and keeping pace with the rapidly changing digital landscape necessary to support organizational change.

“With marketing leaders facing operational constraints and economic uncertainty, coupled with CEOs and C-suite leaders not fully grasping the impact that marketing has on the future of the business, they are paddling against a strong current,” said Mary Gilbert, Founder of the Future-Ready CMO Community and Executive Founder of Infinite Edge Consulting. “The results from our survey underscore that marketing leaders seeking to leverage marketing as a force for global change, in a rapidly shifting economic and digital landscape, must start with changing the organization’s cultural and business practice mindset. And that starts with marketing leaders showing up, and taking a critical look at what’s required of them now.”

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Organizational Change Means Facing Organizational Challenges

The marketing function thrives on adapting to change and remaining relevant within the business and especially with customers. Marketers have set out to create real change. In fact, the survey found that 81 percent of respondents agree that in order for marketers to transform the world, they will need to transform business. However, there are still many day-to-day challenges that exist at the organizational level.

The survey reveals the following top pain points for marketers:

Talent development (48%)
Navigating volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity (40%)
Navigating changing digital landscape (38%)
Keeping up with new technologies (31%)
Alignment of internal culture, brand and purpose (29%)
CEO/C-Suite doesn’t understand the value of marketing and the role of the brand (26%); their strategy/priorities don’t align with customer needs (21%); and they don’t understand the long-term equity value (17%)
Creating lasting connections with customers (24%)
Keeping up with changing consumer behaviors (17%)

Developing Future Marketing Leaders and Talent

With nearly half of respondents struggling with talent development, particularly as marketers deal with culture and business practices falling behind the rapidly changing business landscape, they will have to rethink what type of talent and resources fit their new agile business model.

When the study asked marketers what skills and training they felt they or their team would need to lead this broader change, nearly half (49%) said they needed a better understanding of how to shape new narratives in this current environment. In addition, 44 percent felt that training on new business and brand engagement models that can drive impact would be important, while 39 percent felt they needed to focus on leadership development overall.

C-Suite and Marketing Alignment

Marketers are no longer challenged with focusing solely on meeting the needs of their customers. In today’s climate, they are facing even more resistance from internal stakeholders.

Driving organizational change, particularly when traditional methods are deeply rooted in the business’s foundation or culture and C-Suite or CEO support is limited, is no easy feat. With that, marketers feel there are several factors that have held them back from feeling empowered to drive organizational change necessary to lead their company through world-positive change.

Nearly half of the survey respondents (48%) said not having enough time or too many other priorities has kept them from moving toward organizational change. 43 percent said the fact that marketing is not measurable or hard to prove the value to CEO/C-Suite has been a big factor, and over a quarter (26%) said this also underscores that CEO/C-Suite doesn’t understand the long-term value of future ready initiatives.

What is the Role of a Future CMO

As the business and economic landscape continues to shift, marketers also see their roles changing in the next 3–4 years. Specifically, 79 percent of survey respondents believe an increased responsibility for revenue growth will fall on their shoulders. In addition, nearly 60 percent (57%) believe their role will be increasingly involved in defining new products and business models.

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