Chief marketing officers (CMOs) say they are expected to simultaneously retain customers, increase brand awareness, improve customer satisfaction, and increase customer profitability, according to a recent report from Oracle Marketing Cloud and the Aberdeen Group.

The report was based on data from a survey of 447 marketers at B2B, B2C, and mixed-model (B2B and B2C) companies from around the world (57% based in the Americas; 29%, EMEA; 14%, APAC).

Some 81% of senior marketers surveyed say retaining customers is one of their top agenda items; increasing brand awareness is the next most common goal (74% cite), followed by improving customer satisfaction (67%) and increasing customer profitability (54%).

Below, additional key findings from the report.

Challenges

More than half (55%) of respondents say a top challenge is meeting the needs of modern buyers who have access to a wealth of information about competing products/services.

Some 40% of respondents say they struggle to create enough content for their marketing efforts.

Best-in-Class Performers

As part of their analysis, the researchers examined what differentiates the data strategies of the best-in-class performing companies—those who self-report being in the top 20% in customer retention, revenue growth, profit margin, and response time to customer needs.

The analysis found best-in-class marketers are more likely to use customer feedback to develop new products/services (61% do so vs. 40% of those not best-in-class), provide internal stakeholders with tailored views of data (61% vs. 35%), standardize customer data across the business (51% vs. 39%), and integrate customer feedback into business decision making (50% vs. 37%).

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 447 marketers at B2B, B2C, and mixed-model (B2B and B2C) companies from around the world (57% based in the Americas, 29% EMEA, 14% APAC).