1. A marketing back office renaissance. That drop in marketing budgets is largely due in part, according to Gartner, to marketing leadership being too distracted by tactics and execution. For that reason, we predict a renaissance of the back office – meaning a greater focus and investment on the strategic arm of the marketing organization (basically everything that is happening behind the scenes within marketing.)

2. Alliance between the CMO and CFO. As budgets are tightened, marketing teams that succeed in 2018 will build a closer relationship between Marketing and Finance.

3. A new Chief of Staff to the CMO, Marketing Operations. These trends, along with the newfound pressure for marketing to run more like a business, have created a new VIP on the marketing team; Marketing Operations. For many organizations, MOPs has emerged as the most capable resource to step in and help the CMO in their quest, especially with responsibilities related to data cleanliness, marketing resource management, and marketing performance management.

While investment in new technology for products and services continues to be a priority (55% of the CEOs ranked it in their top 2), a focus on innovating in the way their companies engage with customers was a top priority for more CEOs (58%).      They are recognizing that changing market conditions, particularly more tech-savvy business buyers, requires them to become more industry and business focused, to adapt their sales practices, and to think about new delivery models.

And, more importantly, they feel this shift is paying off where it counts.  42% of the CEOs cited improvements in customer experience and service as the key change that has driven more wins (Incidentally, the combination of new or better products was only 15%).

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