Editorial
The Gist
- AI impact. Generative AI enhances efficiency, reporting and team augmentation for CMOs.
- Revenue focus. CMOs are shifting from lead generation to revenue outcome accountability.
- Emotional connections. Mastering empathy strengthens brand relationships and customer loyalty.
It’s only midsummer 2024, but Type A personalities like CMOs are already planning for 2025 with AI in marketing and other skills. The last 12 months have been fairly intense as the drumbeat of consistent AI headlines and integrations has intensified.
Looking to 2025, what skills do CMOs think they should sharpen to stay competitive as leaders to help their companies thrive?
AI vs. Empathy: A CMO Dilemma
Most agree there won’t be a dramatic change. However, there does seem to be a dichotomy emerging between artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence. Internally, CMOs are using generative AI. Externally, they are leveraging their humanity and empathy for their clients and customers.
Related Article: The Unforeseen Consequences of Relying on AI in Marketing Strategies
CMOs Shift Focus to Revenue Outcomes
Those who were interviewed for this article also made note of a shift, or expansion, from being focused on leads to feeling responsible for revenue outcomes. Simply driving traffic to ecommerce platforms for sales teams no longer feels like the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, where the winner has the highest amount of marketing qualified leads (MQLs) in the pipeline. CMOs are increasingly interested in adding tactics that support the bottom-of-the-funnel conversions and being accountable for those outcomes as well.
Related Article: AI and Ethics: Navigating the New Frontier
CMOs to Master AI for Efficiency
As the CMO of Axios HQ, Christopher Willis expects that the best CMOs will become masters of AI in marketing.
“There is so much room for efficiency and automation in everything we do," he said. "Finding the right solutions to add smart automation, intelligent reporting, and best-in-breed team augmentation will allow CMOs to consistently show improvement and increased ROI.”
Related Article: CMOs Report 5 Effects of AI on the Role
CMOs Align Metrics With Sales Goals
Willis also stated that the best CMOs will build dashboards to show the “health of the entire engine.” He sees this as accountability and an increase in value.
“Branding and leads are not outcomes," Willis said. "And our CEOs want to see that we see the outcome as the goal. I think that CMOs and marketing in general have spent a lot of years siloed away creating leads. The switch in mentality to be more like the CRO and think much more about the outcome (pipeline building) makes the CMO a better more strategic partner to the sales org.”
Related Article: Why Marketing Leaders Need to Harness the Power of AI Now
Emotional Intelligence Key for Brand Loyalty
At the same time, Jeni Golomb, former CMO turned founder and CEO of GLASSBRKR, said now, more than ever, people are craving human connection.
“Brands can play a part in this," she said. "Authentic, compelling narratives that resonate with our audience’s values and experiences will strengthen our brand relationships. When consumers connect with your brand as a brand they relate to, that drives purchase and loyalty. Over the next year, mastering emotional intelligence and empathy will be key. These skills enable us to create genuine connections with our customers, fostering a sense of loyalty and trust that transcend traditional marketing metrics.”
AI in Marketing Empowers Junior Marketers
David Karel, CMO at Crunchtime, offered encouragement for budding CMOs.
“Rapid maturation of GenAI tools hold a lot of promise to provide teams a ‘shortcut,’” he said.
In other words, AI in marketing offers junior marketers, who might not have as much experience, the opportunity to perform at higher levels.
“You need to invest in bringing the right people with the right competency and experience set to develop and deploy a great message and compelling visual identity," Karel said.
He also sees a lot of untapped potential from pre-IPO companies to voyage into the territory of demand gen tools and methodologies, narrative, messaging and brand with skilled CMOs at the helm of marketing and business development.
AI Insights Revolutionize Customer Behavior Analysis
Jarrod Purchase is head of global marketing for Eightcap, a technology company for traders and investors. He believes machine learning can offer unprecedented insights into customer behavior, which can lead to more personalized and effective marketing campaigns.
“AI used to be a buzzword without any substance behind it,” said Purchase. “Now, everyone is seeing it in their lives — from WhatsApp providing AI in messages to Android phones helping translate phone conversations live. The primary difference lies in the increasing importance of technology and data. While traditional marketing skills such as creativity, brand management and strategic planning require human thinking, leveraging AI in that process is now critical to commercial success. If you're not already looking at AI now and planning for it, you're falling behind.”
Related Article: Machine Learning and Generative AI in Marketing: Critical Differences
Balancing AI and EQ in 2025 Marketing
With an expanding role of responsibility and facing the most sophisticated customer base of all time, it makes sense to sharpen skills around generative AI in 2025 — while at the same time harnessing the power of emotional connections. When asked about the “why” behind their answers, these experts agreed on the following:
AI helps…
- Scale the most effective marketing tactics such as personalization.
- Summarize large data sets.
- Automate reporting with intelligent insights.
- Customer behavior analysis at a larger scale.
EQ helps…
- Build trust with customers who might never speak with a human at your company.
- Choose messaging that resonates with your customers.
- Give sales teams more relevant and helpful tools than gift cards and fluffy ebooks.
- Differentiate your brand with authenticity.
What Skills CEOs Say CMOs Need
While these skill sets will be important next year, the talent company owners and leaders are looking for is around management and execution. In fact, the No. 1 skill CMOs need, year after year, is leadership, according to the founder of CMOx, Casey Slaughter Stanton. In several articles and video interviews from the last few years, like the CMO Confidential, what CEOs are looking for from the CMOs isn’t solely about the ability to harness technology — it’s the ability to think like a general manager, taking responsibility for the full profit and loss (P&L).
CMOs Drive Growth With Strategic Insights
In a feature provided by Deliotte in the Wall Street Journal, Surabhi Varshney, vice president of corporate strategy at Celanese, stated how critical the CMO is to the success of the entire organization because of the intel they bring to the table. They are able to “look across the company and develop a consolidated plan that ultimately drives commercial growth.”
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CMOs Must Balance AI, EQ for Success
Of course, AI and EQ are the tools to help CMOs operate this way. As long as they remember these skills are a means to an end and not an end in themselves, their attention will be focused in the right direction. Marketers do have a reputation for getting caught up in the “shiny new things” as technology powers so much of their day-to-day responsibilities.
Parting Thoughts
It’s another lovely dichotomy of marketing — being practical with the use of technology and sometimes impractical with goal setting and results. Maybe adding a sense of humor to skills for 2025 isn’t a bad idea either.
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