Chief marketing officers seem to be embracing ChatGPT, according to the 2023 CMO Survey, a study by Chief Outsiders.  

On a scale of one to 10, the most important task for ChatGPT is content creation and management (7.37).

Market research and competitive insights is second (6.1) and digital marketing third (5.6). 

Obtaining first-party data is an imperative on all sides. In B2B, CMOs expect to garner data in these ways: 

• Leverage marketing technology to effectively capture customer behavior, such as CRM and marketing automation systems — 6.08
• From owned website/social channel visits — 6.05  
• At in-person events — 4.4

In contrast, CMOs seek these sources in B2C:

• From owned website/social channel visits — 6.41 
• Leverage marketing technology to effectively capture customer behavior, such as CRM and marketing automation systems — 5.89 
• Work with influencers and other partners to collect data and build customer relationships — 4.31
• These issues aside, CMOs face several impediments to growth this year, starting with inflation (5.35), talent/labor issues (4.55) and supply-chain problems (4.19). 

Of course, CEOs set the agenda for everyone, including CMOs. Their leading priorities for CMOs are setting the growth agenda (5.83), lead generation (5.2) and building the connection between marketing and sales (4.35).

“CMOs believe safeguarding growth to be the highest priority for the C-Suite in 2023,” says Pete Hayes, CMO and co-principal of Chief Outsiders. “They also see that CEOs increasingly give CMOs the responsibility to drive that effort, and it looks like this shift to a very strategic, even business-critical, role for the CMO will be permanent.” 

Chief Outsiders surveyed 80 CMOs.