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Marketing leaders and teams need to become more holistic in their approach as they want to develop data-driven approaches in order to develop more informed strategies. A new report shows that while traditional activities like branding are still high on the marketeers’ agenda, data and technology stewardship and information gathering are also becoming increasingly important.

Previous research has found that if UK companies fail to maintain customer relevance, they could lose an estimated £ 100 billion in sales in the years to come, which means that the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has gained added importance at most companies. This, in turn, has resulted in the CMO function developing rapidly in recent years.

As digital innovation sees a new breed of challenger companies, many incumbents have faced a choice: adapt to competition or lose business. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, every customer counts – even more than before – so using technology to improve customer experience has become an essential task even for the most established companies.

According to a new study by Capgemini, this has put marketing leads under increasing pressure to use customer data to make faster decisions while being able to quickly quantify their results. The key to this is maintaining a closer relationship with data and technology.

When it comes to the marketing function, brand building and business strategy remain the be-all and end-all of the job. These are the areas where the CMOs have the most direct responsibility and accountability and exercise budgetary control and decision-making power. But a growing number also shows how the role is becoming more holistic and multidimensional.

While a total of 93% of CMOs are in some form responsible for brand building – and 63% have direct responsibility including budget control – 74% also have some responsibility for data and technology in a company. A smaller number, 33%, have direct responsibility and budgetary powers in this area, but this still shows the CMO’s mission as companies understand that their insights can help steer consumer data into promotion.

Likewise, almost seven out of ten are responsible for their company’s customer experience skills. 28% are directly responsible for this. Capgemini also found that 36% are directly responsible for overseeing marketing technologies such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools or marketing automation platforms.

While businesses are trying to promote more responsive marketing for their businesses, many are considering moving their work in-house. While the pressure on marketing agencies to demonstrate value for money has increased, in the aftermath of the last 18 months of the crisis, companies have become increasingly determined to take control of their marketing function and monitor its effectiveness themselves. Retail in particular is leading this shift as more than half of retail marketers expect to take on external partners in-house over the next three years. Similarly, about half of telecommunications, utilities, and consumer goods companies are considering such a move.

According to Capgemini, the integration of internal functions is likely to take a hybrid approach with in-house skills and supporting agencies. This model could give companies better access to talent as well as cost and performance control – and the researchers pointed to Unilever, which founded its in-house digital agency U-Studio to increase the volume and lead time of content. The company operates a hybrid model where the majority of its employees are hired by an agency specializing in digital marketing and work with Unilever marketers.