The industry’s first Fearless 50 and Elite 18 celebrates the leaders who push a customer-first agenda above all else.
“For the first time in marketing, we are recognizing the Elite 18 CMOs and the Fearless 50 Marketing leaders that take a customer-led approach above all else — driving visibility and value for their customers and their respective organizations as a whole.”
— Ari Hoffman, VP of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Influitive.
While research from Forrester has shown that 60% of B2B marketing technology decision-makers believe traditional marketing activities don’t work anymore, they also reported spending only about 33% of their budget on customer growth and retention.
With the rolling recession and economic downturn, it’s easy to cling to acquisition-focused marketing strategies, but we also know that:
- Companies taking a customer-led approach to their tech investments grow 1.8X faster than their peers
- Customer-obsessed companies grow 2.5X faster than non-obsessed ones and retain 2.2X more customers annually
It is more important than ever to inspire the future class of marketers with those who are leading the way today, and what do those leaders have in common? A customer-led growth mindset!
This year, we need to celebrate our marketing leaders who are doubling down on customer-first initiatives,moving their budgets, and scaling their customer programs rather than cutting them down and applying the freeze and squeeze.
That is the focus of Influitive’s Fearless 50 and Elite 18 awards!
“I’m so excited that this process and awards committee is happening because, in a lot of fields, there are really critical roles that don’t get the recognition they deserve,” said Nick Mehta, CEO at Gainsight and Elite 18 judge. “There are so many people [in customer marketing] that are having a big impact on their business and revenue, but it’s not always recognized. People think of the job as tactical with references, case studies, and advocacy, when in fact, almost all of your sales are driven by your customers.”
“It’s so important to recognize these leaders because, at the end of the day, if we are not dialed into what our customers need and when they need it, we’ve missed it,” added Carrie Palin, SVP and CMO at Cisco and Elite 18 judge, “And so marketing often has the first touch in that entire customer journey and oftentimes the very last touch, so as you come full closed loop, marketing leaders set the pace for companies on how we interact with our customers and how we engage.”
“Here at LogicMonitor, customer obsession is a core value for us, so I’m always looking for leaders who put the customer at the heart of everything they do,” said Christina Kosmowski, CEO at LogicMonitor and Elite 18 judge. “It’s important that not only someone can tell our story but it really helps us tell the customer story because our customer success is our success. I’m looking forward to recognizing other folks in the industry who do the same.”
Learn more about the #Fearless50CLMarketers and #Elite18CMOs and how you can recognize your peers for the incredible changes they are striving for, or be a part of it yourself!
