Growth Insights for CEOs

The Contrarian Brand Play: Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Invest in Brand
Executive Takeaways
- Most companies are cutting brand spend to fund rising paid acquisition costs. That is the wrong response.
- Brand awareness now drives AI citations, and AI citations drive Day One shortlist inclusion.
- Google's redesign of Search makes brand recognition more important; AI systems favor brands users already know.
- The companies investing in brand while competitors pull back are building advantages at lower cost.
Part 4 of our four-part series on the evolving AI search landscape and what B2B leaders need to know to stay competitive.
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CEOs, Are You Confident in Your Marketing Team’s Ability to Drive Growth?
Mon, Sep 17, 2018 — While most mid-sized companies have invested in dedicated, in-house marketing teams, many executives are not pleased with the return on investment. A survey conducted by The Fournaise Marketing Group revealed that 73 percent of CEOs believe their marketing team is not capable of generating enough growth. An astonishing 80 percent of the CEOs polled don’t trust their marketing teams. There is widespread concern that the marketing function is unable to deliver a positive ROI for the department’s spending. CEOs also doubt marketing’s ability to use data to make informed decisions. You may have some of the same concerns for your marketing organization. Much has changed in marketing over the last several years, but its core purpose has stayed the same. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the “activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Despite the challenges of an ambiguous and rapidly evolving business landscape, marketers must drive growth and prove their value to their company. This can be accomplished by focusing on marketing’s core responsibility: delivering value to customers and stakeholders.