B2B CMOs Must Evolve Or Move On

Digital channels, online social activity, and rapidly evolving personal technology cause top business marketers to take on unfamiliar responsibilities in order to succeed. While new peer and boardroom attention energizes many of these leaders, they also express concern over the evolving skills and degree of cross-department teamwork needed to meet rising business expectations. For this report, Forrester and the Business Marketing Association (BMA) jointly surveyed 117 marketing executives about how they take on new world marketing demands. Forrester concludes that business-to-business (B2B) CMOs who improve their team's agility and simplify peer working relationships will enjoy more executive confidence and move on to greater corporate leadership opportunities. Key to this transition will be the CMO's ability to span organizational silos and focus corporate strategy, energy, and budget on enhancing knowledge of and engagement with customers.