As we head into the summer months, each year I always set aside time to evaluate my goals—both personal and professional. This mid-year level set lets me really see where things are, what I’ve learned that may impact my plans going forward, and what needs to be done to keep things going strong in the second half of the year.

It’s also a great time to glean knowledge from outside resources, like this recent article from Forrester that piqued my interest. It shares insights and trends for marketing leaders based on the results from their 2022 Marketing Survey and notes that leaders, specifically CMOs, are faced with a challenging and fast-changing environment. Can you relate? The article outlined several key insights and is worth a full read. Here are a few of the top points that stood out to me:

1. Identify your best strategy for company growth.

Forrester says, “The most important decision a company can make is how it plans to grow.” This is especially true in challenging times. Rough waters mean it’s sink or swim, so the last thing marketing leaders should do is nothing. The article pointed to the six most common ways for a business to grow including: entering new markets; discovering new buyers; growing through new offerings; making an acquisition; increasing productivity; or learning through experience.

For businesses wanting to discover new buyers, the best way is through quality third-party data. The large scale—data providers can manage and license tens of millions of contacts—means your business has the opportunity to reach new prospects in the same market, as well as enter new markets.

2. Define what matters to you and your organization.

Forrester phrases it as building “a brand purpose that aligns to your brand vision, mission, and corporate social responsibility goals.” It’s a common goal in marketing, but the key, Forrester says, is for CMOs and marketing executives to implement a brand management process rather than a one-and-done decision. It should be “an ongoing set of activities over a period of years with the aim to generate awareness, positive perceptions, and preference.”

From a personal leadership perspective, defining what matters to your personal brand as a leader/boss/executive/CMO can mean naming the aspects of leadership most important to you. Do you value teamwork and collaboration, or inspiring self-confidence and autonomy?

3. Identify and respond to changing buyer behaviors.

One-third of senior B2B marketers say changing buying behaviors is important for their marketing strategy this year. The pandemic, and resulting lockdowns, have deeply impacted how and where we work. If you haven’t already addressed these changes to targeting your audience, now is the time. Newer data strategies like identity graphs and intent monitoring can zero in on new customers.

4. Let technology work for you—not against you.

Forrester respondents noted that optimizing the technology stack was a top priority. There are a dizzying array of martech tools out there (last I saw the count was nearly 10,000!) There are more and more solutions and options for marketers, but that also opens concerns for actually implementing them effectively. Forrester reported that 57% of senior B2B marketing decision-makers say the CMO and CIO are strategic partners for successful marketing stack implementation. We’ve long-preached sales and marketing alignment, but IT and marketing alignment is becoming another imperative. 

The Forrester article has many good insights on trends for B2B marketers looking to conduct their own mid-year evaluation to lead their team well. Reach out if you’re ready to reset your marketing for the rest of 2022 and align with some of the insights noted above.  

Outward Media’s proven data cleansing services and targeted, accurate B2B data can enable you to achieve better digital marketing ROI and, ultimately, convert more prospects into customers. Go here to find out about leveraging our SMB and medical market data on the LiveRamp Data Marketplace, where 95% of our email data matches the identity graph for use with display ad marketing.