However, many CEOs struggle to effectively evaluate and align their company's digital marketing initiatives with their broader business objectives. In a recent webinar, digital marketing experts Jennifer Apy and Rob Talbot of Chief Outsiders shared their insights on how CEOs can take a more strategic, data-driven approach to digital marketing.

Understand the Evolving Buyer's Journey

The first step for CEOs is to recognize that the traditional sales funnel no longer applies in the digital age. "The buying journey has gotten much more complex," explained Apy. "We know that for most things, B2B and B2C, about 80% of that buyer's journey starts online."

This shift means that marketing's role has expanded considerably, and it is now responsible for influencing customers at every stage of their research and decision-making process. "Marketing's job has gotten a lot harder," said Apy. "So, marketers have to think strategically about how we find potential customers, and determine where they are online and how we influence them down the funnel to a sale."

Evaluate Your Digital Footprint

Rather than getting bogged down in the tactics, CEOs should focus on taking a big-picture view of their company's digital presence and performance. Apy recommends conducting a comprehensive digital marketing assessment, benchmarking your website, content, lead generation, reviews, and social media against your competitors.

"I can do a very light assessment in a couple of hours using a few tools," said Apy, "but if we want to go deeper and look at many different channels, it can take a couple of months." The key is identifying the gaps and opportunities that can significantly impact customer acquisition and revenue growth.

"Sometimes it's just a creative eyeball of what's going on," added Talbot. "Using this digital world to help inform the strategy is key."

Align Digital Marketing to Business Goals

Once you've evaluated your current digital marketing performance, the next step is to align it with your overarching business objectives. This is where the CEO plays a critical role as the "cheerleader and the holder of the KPIs," as Talbot put it.

"It's really up to the CEO to define the most important KPIs and share them with the organization," he explained. This might involve mapping your digital marketing efforts to a customer acquisition funnel and tracking critical metrics like lead generation, opportunities, and conversions.

"By mapping the efforts to a funnel like this, which is the customer buying journey, and keeping track of the conversion metrics at the highest level," said Apy, "this can be a way to align the conversations around digital marketing performance."

Talbot also emphasized the importance of investing in the proper marketing and sales tools, like CRMs and dashboards, to help measure and optimize performance on an ongoing basis.

Foster a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Culture

Finally, CEOs must cultivate a culture within their organization that is data-driven and customer-centric. This means empowering marketing and sales teams to collaborate, share insights, and make agile adjustments to their digital strategies.

"It's really looking at what those big goals are and then seeing how each department fits into that," said Talbot. "So now warehouse can raise their hand and say, I promise to get things out at a 95 percent shipping rate. I need to pay overtime this week to do that, right? So, it's thinking about what those big goals are, how to live them every single day, and how to foster them.”

As digital marketing trends evolve, CEOs who take a proactive, data-driven approach will be best positioned to capitalize on new opportunities. Whether leveraging self-service media buying tools or adopting a more strategic, omnichannel mindset, the key is maintaining a customer-centric focus.

"Strategies like that materially impact your customer acquisition process. I think getting more strategic, really paying attention to the KPIs, and thinking about who that customer is and how to meet them best where they are is going to be what marketers have to do to get the ROI they need out of their marketing campaigns," said Apy.

By aligning digital marketing with their broader business goals, CEOs can drive sustainable growth and stay ahead of the competition in the digital-first era.

Watch the full video:

Authors:

Jennifer Apy Area Managing Partner & CMO Chief Outsiders

Rob Talbot Partner & CMO Chief Outsiders

Catch up on the Series:

• Mastering Digital Marketing: Key Strategies for SMB Growth