Marketing leaders are coming under increasing pressure to deliver short-term solutions to cope with the macroeconomic uncertainty, as scrutiny of budgets continues to ramp up.
Some 77% of CMOs globally feel under pressure to prove their campaigns are providing enhanced short-term return on investment, according to new research from LinkedIn.
The global survey of 2,929 C-level executives – including 494 CMOs – found marketing bosses are concerned the current uncertainty will force them to curb their creative campaigns (31%) and operate more reactively (30%).
Indeed, 41% of the businesses surveyed – organisations with 1,000 plus employees and annual turnover of more than £250m – say they are
preparing financially for tough times ahead, which is putting heightened pressure on marketers to prove their business impact.
The statistics are reflected in Marketing Week’s exclusive Language of Effectiveness data. More than a third (36.9%) of the 1,610 brand-side marketers surveyed say the tracking of ROI has increased in emphasis in recent months.The Marketing Week research found almost half of marketers (48.4%) report ROI is the most important metric for their CEO, CFO and board members, followed by delivering business outcomes (39.9%) and new customer acquisition (35.8%).This rise in the influence of ROI is being experienced by 32.7% of marketers within SMEs (companies with 250 employees and under), second only to new customer acquisition (36.4%). Within large organisations, return on investment is the number one metric (40.4%) growing in importance.
However, 17.5% of marketers strongly agree their employer is too focused on the ROI of marketing spend when examining effectiveness. A further 28.2% slightly agree with this statement, making a combined total of marketers who feel their brand is too focused on ROI of 45.7%.
Despite the interest in ROI demonstrated by CEOs, CFOs and boards, just over a quarter (28.4%) of the sample surveyed by Marketing Week always measure the return on investment of their campaigns when conducting effectiveness analysis.
