Dive Brief:

• In previous years, marketing held a lower importance in business—sometimes just as a place for logo designs and sales support. 
• The role of marketing department—and more specifically the CMO—has matured to be the first point of contact for customers. Up to 67% of the buyers' journey is now conducted digitally. 
• Metrics proving the value of marketing has pushed the profession forward through technology vendors like Marketo and Eloqua. 

Dive Insight: 

Today's CMO has to know more than just marketing strategy—they need to be technically savvy and quick-thinking as well. Because CMO's have to be well-versed in the latest technology, that has given them the opportunity to use their knowledge to deliver on revenue growth, customer experience, and customer insight  With so much of the sales cycle now happening digitally, marketing's responsibilities—like the web page display, social media strategy, etc. —is more important than ever. No longer can businesses claim that marketing isn't important to the overall business plan, because it now drives it.