CMOs are taking more marketing services in-house, according to a new study released by media and marketing consultancy NewBase (formerly Publicitas International).
“The Evolving Marketer” survey, released Wednesday, explores the marketing strategies of 120 CMOs and found that brands prefer to keep certain advertising elements close to the chest.
Unsurprisingly, marketing strategy is performed in-house by 86 percent of CMOs. Likewise, 76 percent of survey respondents indicated that product marketing is performed in-house compared to 20 percent shared responsibility with an outside firm and five percent delegating out-of-house.
“There are some critical functions that need to remain in-house and require the day to day control and management of the marketing team, and these tend to relate to strategy, pricing, product and customers,” wrote NewBase in the survey.
However, areas like social media and branding—both traditionally outsourced to agencies—are now becoming part of the CMO’s wheelhouse.
Just over half of CMOs said their marketing teams handle social media exclusively in-house, for example, with only 10 percent combining resources with an outside agency. Branding is exclusive to in-house operations for 43 percent of respondents, as well, compared to 42 percent who outsource the responsibility.
When it comes to budgets, digital marketing is now the number one priority for CMOs, the survey found, and his/her responsibility has increased across the board for digital, content and social media marketing.
One reason for this increased responsibility is an increase in pressure. “There is an increasing expectation for the CMO to implement change and deliver results,” said the report. Another reason is the availability of technology that makes a CMO’s job easier.
“Many automated systems, processes and efficiencies are now in place to handle repetitive tasks, which to some extent has freed up time for marketing teams to focus more on consumer and creative related work,” said NewBase.
Over three quarters—77 percent—of global CMOs agree that ‘there is increasing interest in marrying art, science and data.’ CMOs are divided on whether to rely on outside sources to handle data and analytics, the study found. The role of data and analytics is split between exclusively in-house and exclusively out-of-house at 45 and 43 percent, respectively.
Similarly, content marketing is also split between in-house and out-of-house exclusivity at 44 and 49 percent, respectively.
The CMO is now overseeing an average of 12 creative and MarTech areas, NewBase found, with 64 percent of respondents responsible for 10 or more.
Despite the control of handling marketing services in-house, the practice is not without its limitations. NewBase found that while 66 percent of global CMOs claim that their business is moving more towards in-house marketing services, budget or other structural constraints often prevent organizations from hiring the ‘perfect team’ on a full-time basis.
In addition, 55 percent of respondents claim that they lack the right skill set, or indicated that the ‘mix of skills’ could be better. Only three percent are confident that they have perfected the skill set necessary to handle all marketing services in-house.
CMOs aren’t bringing everything in-house, however. Amid brand safety concerns regarding ad placement on the web, CMOs still rely on outside sources for programmatic ad buying. The study found that 43 percent completely outsource programmatic to out-of-house providers.
