IBM CMO Study Provides Insight into Building Products Industry

While most CMOs feel under-prepared, there are 3 key areas of improvement that can help them prepare for the future.

IBM recently conducted a study of CMOs from all over the world, in many different industries to figure out how they feel about today’s market and what their outlook is for the future. The findings are fascinating and show that CMOs in all industries – not just the building products industry – feel apprehensive about todays’ instable economy and the future of their marketing programs. Beyond that, they found 3 key areas for improvement to help building product CMOs prepare for a changing world.

CMOs Feel Underprepared

• Most CMOs aren’t ready to handle the key changes ahead, among these changes, “data explosion” and “social media” are ranked highest, followed by “growth of channel and device choices” and “shifting consumer demographics.”
• What can you do to get ahead of the curve? Invest in these changes – train your employees, hire the right people and focus on education. Although the building products industry is often behind the curve when it comes to technology, the world around us continues to change and we all need to be ready to adapt.

3 Key Areas for Improvement to help building product CMO’s prepare for a changing world:

1. Understand and deliver value to empowered customers: Get to know your customers and what they believe and value. Look at your customers as people rather than a market beyond traditional market research by tracking blogs, third-party reviews and consumer reviews.
2. Create lasting relationships with those customers: Go beyond the transaction, beyond consistent communication – engaging with customers includes helping them enjoy the products or services they’ve bought from you. To do this you must manage your brand’s corporate character –what you sell is just as important as what you stand for. Remember this not only includes your customers, but your employees too.
3. Measure marketing’s contribution to the business: As building product CMOs know – you will be held even more financially accountable in the future. In our compressed industry, proving ROI is becoming increasingly more important. To ensure you’re prepared, hire people with knowledge in financial, technical and digital skills and educate yourself on how you can best prove your programs’ worth.

As a building product CMO in this changing world, you have the opportunity to shape the future and make a difference in your company. Challenge yourself to focus on creating value for your customers by capitalizing on new digital channels to stimulate customer conversations and using advanced analytics to demonstrate accountability.

Sources and Additional Articles

• Register for your copy for the IBM Global CMO Study