Gartner Survey Reveals “Market Shaping” CMOs Are Eight Times More Likely to Succeed in Their Role

A Gartner, Inc. survey of CEOs and CFOs shows that many CMOs and marketing organizations are underperforming, however CMOs who adopt a “market shaping” approach are eight times more likely to succeed in their role. The most effective CMOs are “market shapers” who identify and fulfill unmet customer needs.

The Gartner survey of 125 CEOs and CFOs, conducted from August through September 2024, revealed that 88% of CMOs who are somewhat effective enterprise operators, but very effective market shapers exceed performance expectations (see Figure 1).

“Our survey revealed two distinct types of CMO: enterprise operators and market shapers,” said Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone, VP, Advisory in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “While enterprise operators focus on translating enterprise strategy into marketing action plans, market shapers have deeper customer and market insight. Market shaping CMOs are innovators, with the ability to identify and fulfil unmet customer needs.”

During the opening keynote of the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, taking place here this week, Gartner experts explored how CMOs can navigate heightened expectations and economic uncertainty.

There are three key opportunities CMOs must leverage in order to navigate disruption and exceed expectations:

“Market shaper CMOs are marketers first, executives second,” said LaRocca-Cerrone. “With a deep understanding of their customers and market, they not only solve current business challenges but also position their organizations for future success.”

Market shaping CMOs focus on four key elements:

• Shaping enterprise leadership commitments to the customer, highlighting what’s realistic and what’s not
• Shaping enterprise understanding of, and response to, disruptive forces
• Shaping customer preference for their organization over the competition
• Shaping future product strategy, helping product innovation leaders understand real unmet customer needs. 

Many CMOs are stuck in a cycle of short-term planning, often as a result of strategic dysfunction. Strategic dysfunction is characterized by a state of confusion and conflict resulting from unclear, too numerous, or conflicting enterprise objectives that marketing must support. Eight-four percent of CMOs report high levels of strategic dysfunction in their organization, according to a Gartner survey of 403 CMOs conducted in October through November 2024.

“Too often, long-term thinking is blown off course by stakeholder conflict and competing priorities,” said Alex De Fursac Gash, VP Analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “CMOs who plan at least 18 months ahead are 1.5 times more likely to report high performance than those who do not.”

CMOs must leverage customer data to navigate uncertainty. Where possible, marketing leaders should design tailored experiences that invite customers to share relevant data. However, where customer data is not available, CMOs should create their own answers through hypothesis-led experimentation and testing.

“Volatility and unpredictability call for wayfinding excellence. CMOs must lean into their learned experiences to make decisions that prioritize customer needs,” said De Fursac Gash. “Where the path is unclear, leverage customer understanding to find the right way forward.”

Gartner clients can read more in “CMO Strategy Survey: Overcome Rampant Dysfunction to Drive Growth” and “How Market-Shaper CMOs Exceed C-Suite Expectations”.

About the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo

The Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo is taking place May 12-13 in London and June 2-4 in Denver, providing marketing leaders with actionable advice about the trends, tools and emerging technologies they need to deliver business results. Follow news and updates coming out of the conference on the Gartner Newsroom and on X and LinkedIn using #GartnerMKTG.