A majority of CMOs admit to missing goals due to a lack of team resources, study finds

As chief marketing officers try to hit their targets and stay ahead in the ever-changing industry, a new survey suggests that they may want to look outside their teams for assistance. And they seem to need it: The Chief Marketing Officer Council survey found that 86% of respondents say they have missed opportunities for lack of resources. For the survey, The CMO Council polled 150 members at the beginning of 2021 about issues such as team capabilities and the time it takes to hire leaders. Just 14% of the CMOs who responded rated their own global marketing teams as excellent. Forty-four percent called their own teams “very good,” while 27% said they have average teams, 12% said their teams were improving and 3% admitted to leading poor teams. But when asked whether a lack of resources or capabilities in key functions impaired their performance or ability to execute effectively, 34% admitted it was a consistent issue and 52% said that happened intermittently. And 20% said the lack of resources or capabilities “significantly” led to missed revenue, growth, or customer acquisition, while another two-thirds noted that it “somewhat” led to those missed opportunities. These are striking figures that, among other findings, suggest there are hiring and training goals for CMOs to address. “Most senior marketers say they are challenged by the time it takes to properly recruit and onboard senior functional leaders on their team,” Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, said in a statement. When asked how long it takes to recruit and bring senior marketing leaders—those at the director level or higher—onto the team, 54% said it takes three to six months and 15% said more than six months. That kind of timing isn’t ideal when marketing strategies and analyses need to be performed within tight deadlines. The CMO Council’s report, Scaling the Value of the CMO, was done with a potential answer in mind: hiring fractional or interim marketing leaders for on-demand work. The CMO Council announced a partnership with Chief Outsiders, a firm that helps companies fill part-time, or fractional, CMO positions with experienced marketers. The CMO Council announced it would offer its members on-demand outsourcing of senior marketing talent on a contract or interim basis. In the past, 34% of respondents have hired contractors for work at or above the director level, according to the survey.

A majority of CMOs admit to missing goals due to a lack of team resources, study finds

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