Weekly Survey Watch: Gartner Releases Findings of CMO Spend Survey 2020, and More

A roundup of marketing surveys from Gartner, Merkle Inc., LinkedIn and Vision Critical, and RingDNA.

Gartner Releases Findings of CMO Spend Survey 2020

Gartner, a global research and advisory company, announcedOpens a new window the results of its CMO Spend Survey 2020 report. The survey analyzed responses of 432 CMOs and found out that 73% of CMOs expect the pandemic’s negative impact to be short-lived, with a positive outlook for business performance in the next 18-24 months.

“Marketers remain stoic in the face of adversity and are significantly out of step with other members of the C-suite,” said Ewan McIntyre, vice president analyst for Gartner for Marketers. “We are seeing a significant number of CEOs and CFOs building scenario plans that include a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we progress into the ‘recover’ and ‘renew’ phases of this pandemic, CFOs will turn their attention to profitability, and marketing has the dubious honor of topping the list of functions where finance will look to trim expenses even further.”

Merkle Announces Results of its Customer Engagement Report 2020

Focused on measuring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on marketers, Merkle Inc., a data-driven performance marketing agency, revealedOpens a new window the survey results of its Customer Engagement Report 2020 for the quarter. The report has included findings from 400 marketers based in the U.S. and U.K., whose businesses span across retail and consumer goods, financial, travel, media, entertainment, health, insurance, and nonprofit. In the survey, Merkle found that 52% of marketers increased their spend since the pandemic.

“The world has been significantly disrupted by COVID-19, and as marketers, we’ve had to find new ways to innovate in order to thrive during this time,” said Jose Cebrian, senior vice president, marketing strategy at Merkle. “Our research indicates that despite the challenges, marketers have found a silver lining and adopted new and innovative solutions with customer-centricity as the common theme. We aim to showcase these impacts through our report, with our findings highlighting how the power of data and the importance of the customer are encouraging signs that we can move forward as an industry.”

LinkedIn and Vision Critical Reveals 42% Marketers Think Budget Cuts Are a “Significant Challenge”

LinkedIn, the global professional network provider, and Vision Critical, a customer insights firm, partnered on the survey “COVID Marketing Impact and How Marketers Are Responding.” The survey questions were shared with 450 marketers and addressed areas like budget cuts, tactical shuffles, and focal realignments, noted Fred Han, senior manager, communications, LinkedIn in a blogOpens a new window .

He also added, “The bottom line is marketers get it. This isn’t the time to talk about ourselves or our solutions. It’s a time to connect, converse, and be there for a human audience searching for information and sources they can trust.”

ringDNA Unveils New Research Findings on the Future of Sales and AI

A sales enablement platform, ringDNA, surveyed the attendees of the Selling Forward Conference, and revealed that 36% respondents believed that AI can potentially improve sales performance. The survey garnered 1,050 unique responses from B2B sales and marketing leaders, the company revealed in a blogOpens a new window .

In the findings of the report, ringDNA shared that 84.4% feel that teams are as productive or even more productive when working remote. Whereas, 19% expected the economy to rebound in Q3, while the rest anticipate the rebound to happen in Q4 2020 or beyond.