Marketing budget increases: Tips for wielding a double-edged sword for 2017

January 2017 is a pivotal moment in time for the marketing discipline. According to a recent Gartner study, 2017 marks the third consecutive year of increased budgets for CMOs for the majority of those surveyed, with digital advertising, marketing technology and analytics among the areas most likely to see an increase in spending. In fact, Gartner has long predicted that by the end of this year, CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs.

This is a huge tipping point. It’s also a huge double-edged sword, as CIOs can well attest, because with increased budgets come increased expectations. And for marketers, the expectations are already high.

Increasingly, CMOs are being asked to take responsibility for driving revenues. Some are leaning into this and proactively seeking more financial accountability. Others are waiting for that accountability to be imposed upon them. Either way, 2017 is the year that marketing finds itself in the spotlight as either a money-maker or a cost center, with precious little gray area in between.

When it comes to marketing technology specifically, here are five important things to do, now, to make sure marketers have a firm grip on the handle of that double-edged sword come December.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds heads marketing and client consulting for Quantifind. He has been spent the last 18 years advising senior leaders at disruptive companies across multiple sectors how to accelerate market adoption by focusing on an authentic purpose. Prior to joining Quantifind, Josh served as CEO at Blanc & Otus. Previously, he served for five years as the Global Technology Practice Director for H+K Strategies. Josh began his technology career as a Gartner analyst. He has particularly extensive experience working with the C-suite of companies who are focused on innovation, including Adobe, Deloitte, Dolby, eBay, Facebook, Hootsuite, LinkedIn, Oracle, Yahoo! and others. Josh is also an executive coach and strategic advisor to several startups, and currently sits on the advisory boards of AirGrub, Artivest, Blanc & Otus, H+K Strategies and Taptalk. He earned his B.A. degrees in English and History from UCLA, holds a minor in theology from Oxford University, and earned his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law.