CMOs Reveal Top Strategies for Digital Marketing Success

Fetch, America’s Rewards App, partnered with Wakefield Research to survey 500 CMOs to learn more about how top CPG, retail and restaurant brands are thinking about their marketing strategies for the digital transformation. 

The key takeaway? Long-term consumer relationships have never been more important. Nearly 9 in 10 CMOs say the importance of long-term consumer relationships has increased in the last five years. But at the same time, more than 1 in 5 say their organization is still investing less than they should in building long-term loyalty.

The challenges

The majority of CMOs (69%) say a lack of loyalty and rewards programs or the inability to “break through the noise” are the biggest obstacles when it comes to building long-term loyalty.

Keeping up with new and emerging channels (53%), effective targeting (52%) and staying ahead of the competition (52%) are the biggest challenges that organizations face when it comes to customer acquisition.

Almost all CMOs reported feeling pressure to show return on investment for their campaigns (99%). Among those who will be measuring strategies for building long-term loyalty, 40% say ROI is the most useful when measuring the impact of spending.

The strategies

Collecting, managing and applying data effectively emerged as the most important strategies (74%) for building long-term consumer loyalty.

And when it comes to leveraging data for personalization, the majority (60%) of CMOs say the ability to reach high-intent audience is the most important factor for digital advertising campaigns and their success. Behavioral data (77%) is the most effective signal for informing ad targeting and identifying audiences with high purchase intent.

Organizations are also looking to invest in experiences (68%), both in-store and online, and they’re ramping up investment in tech partnerships and rewards programs (62%).

The advertising channels

Retail Media Networks are booming and poised for continued growth, with more than 80% of CMOs saying they’re increasing investment in the channel. The key drivers are better data and targeting (64%) along with ease of implementation and consistency (87%).

Retail-agnostic media platforms, or RAMPs, include platforms like Fetch that serve as hubs for mobile commerce that transcend the single-retailer ecosystem.

Nearly 80% of CMOs also plan to increase their use of RAMPs in 2024, with 43% expecting a significant rise. The top benefit is a stronger audience focus (67%). When choosing a RAMP partner, a highly engaged audience is the most crucial factor (63%).