If Content Is the King, Does Data/Analytics Become the Queen?

During the last eight weeks, I have been speaking to 30 or so EMEA CMOs to understand some of the specific regional issues they are facing and learn what marketing skills are becoming more or less important for their organizations.

“Understanding the buyer’s journey” and “content” are their top two responses for what is growing in importance. That’s not really a surprise; rather, it’s a confirmation that we all feel the shift of b-to-b buying behaviors as well as the importance of understanding the buyer’s journey from start to finish and aligning content and broader marketing efforts to the needs of buyers as they make this journey.

But is content enough on its own?

The third most important skill cited by EMEA CMOs was data and analytics. Some called it “intelligent analytics” while others talked about “contextualized decisionmaking.” The underlying theme was the need for people who can work with data (even incomplete data) to identify issues and spot opportunities, and then drive the necessary marketing actions to ensure that organizations remain highly relevant to their target audiences.

Relevance is key.

Increasingly, marketers have more ways to establish relevance as we interact with, target and engage our buyers and customers. But with that power comes much responsibility: We must understand the signals that buyers and customers send us and deliver valuable interactions that meet their expectations. Data and analytics provide the necessary context that fuels data-savvy decisionmaking and execution.

So, if data and analytics are increasingly important to business success, how easily can we find these skills? For EMEA CMOs, the answer does not seem promising. They cite data and analytics as one of the hardest skills to find in the region.