Domenic Colasante | Source | CEO at 2X

In an uncertain economy, the smartest marketing leaders stay agile and open to risk—even when others pull back. Gartner’s latest CMO Spend Survey shows budgets are shrinking, but expectations for growth remain high. History shows that brands willing to invest during tough times often come out stronger and more profitable than those that play it safe.

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#1: Marketing Efficiency in Volatile Markets
Context: Discussing how economic uncertainty creates opportunities for marketing transformation.

"In every element of volatility in the market, there are challenges and opportunities. Our core value proposition is about helping people deliver efficient marketing and growth, and achieve more with less to scale without budget growth. In this environment, our solution is more needed than ever, as these conditions cause people to think transformationally rather than just making small tactical actions.

The real value of AI isn't in individual tasks, but in reimagining workflows. While you can write emails more quickly or create graphics faster, the true benefit comes from stringing together a series of tasks and automating them. This requires human insight to define what tasks are connected, what information is needed, and how to ensure quality output. It's not just about buying AI tools, but about fundamentally transforming how work gets done."

#2: AI and Marketing Productivity
Context: Explaining the strategic implementation of AI in marketing departments.

"AI is another piece of marketing technology with great potential, but it's not a silver bullet. The real value isn't in individual tasks, such as writing emails or creating graphics, but in reimagining entire workflows. Companies need to understand that simply purchasing AI tools doesn't automatically translate to efficiency—you must fundamentally redesign how work gets done.

“The key is integrating human expertise with AI capabilities. Until organizations can measure actual productivity gains—either by reducing headcount by 20% or demonstrably increasing output—they haven't truly realized AI's value. This moment of market volatility is an opportunity to transform marketing operations, but it requires strategic human oversight to define tasks, ensure quality, and create meaningful technological integration."

#3: Offshore Services and Economic Shifts
Context: Analyzing potential long-term economic impacts of current trade policies.

"In the services sector, tariffs and economic volatility are creating interesting opportunities for global workforce strategies. Our core business demonstrates that offshore services can deliver significant cost efficiencies; we're already operating at 70% less than our US-based resources. As American labor costs increase, the economic gap between domestic and offshore services could widen even further, potentially driving more companies to diversify their labor base internationally.

What's critical is understanding that resilience in today's market isn't about avoiding global shifts, but about building agile operating models that can pivot quickly in response. Every year brings a new economic challenge - whether it's COVID-19, the Great Resignation, inflation, or software recessions - so businesses need to develop strategies that allow them to flex resources, adjust messaging, and maintain efficiency regardless of external pressures. For marketers and service providers, this means thinking transformationally about how we consume labor, integrate technologies like AI, and create more adaptable workflow structures."

#4: Marketing Investment During Uncertainty
Context: Discussing how economic uncertainty affects marketing budgets and decision-making
These insights provide a strategic, forward-looking perspective on marketing, technology, and economic challenges that would be attractive to business and technology media outlets.

"In every element of market volatility, there are both challenges and opportunities. Our core value proposition is about helping companies deliver efficient marketing and growth, achieving scale without budget growth, and scaling with budget reduction. This environment amplifies the importance of our solution, as it prompts organizations to think transformationally rather than merely making incremental tactical adjustments.

Marketing investment is fundamentally a form of risk-taking, and as uncertainty increases, companies become more hesitant to make investments. This is precisely why businesses need flexible, agile marketing models that can pivot quickly. The key is to restructure budgets, evolve operating models, and create workflows that allow rapid response to changing business strategies. AI and technology can support this, but only when human insight guides the transformation and carefully measures actual productivity gains."

Recently there’s been talk of fractional CMOs, and CMO partnership, but it’s not quite clear on what is truly the role of CMOs today. Domenic Colasante, CEO of 2X, goes on to answer:

What are some of the specific actions CMOs can take to demonstrate their value and the value of marketing within the c-suite? Should other c-suite executives be included in marketing efforts? Are there specific metrics that resonate with c-suite colleagues that demonstrate the value of marketing?
“The CMO’s job isn’t just to own the brand and engage prospects/customers, it’s about being the lead thinker on the market – the opportunity, the competitive dynamics, how the product supports, and how sales targets and prioritizes their craft to the areas of the most opportunity. It’s about being an executive of the business who drives the strategy of the company first, and the lead SME on marketing second.

Marketing has great importance in customer retention and expansion in recurring revenue businesses. This is the number one priority of most tech companies and other types of recurring/subscription models. For too long, marketing was fully focused on customer acquisition and new revenue growth; but marketing can (and should) plan a meaningful role in keeping customers here, in driving their satisfaction and advocacy – through that you get retention, growth, and the part of the new customer acquisition engine that is sourced to word of mouth and customer advocacy. The key metrics here are NRR, GRR, and NPS/Advocacy.

Other C-suite execs should definitely be involved. Marketing can help on employer branding, recruitment, employee retention, in collaboration with sales and customer success. There should also be CMO-CFO collaboration when it comes to the use of scarce marketing resources, including the large fixed-cost block of labor in the marketing function that could be made more flexible.

Marketing is a large P&L and budget owner, and collaborating with the CFO on being a steward of these scarce corporate resources—and reducing the cost of marketing while increasing its impact. For example, IT, Finance, HR, and Procurement leverage global managed services and outsourcing in this lane – and marketing doesn’t often do that. CMOs should be looking at key metrics around unit cost economics (i.e., cost per customer acquisition, cost per opportunity, etc.).”

Are there specific skills future CMOs need to get a better handle on martech and data that can improve marketing performance?
“The job of the marketing leader is transformation. It is not to run the marketing function and just operate marketing. Companies that haven’t seen transformation and continued evolution and new competitive advantage building scale or driving impact may decide that they don’t need the marketing function to run marketing—it can just be under sales, operations, or other local functions. But when marketing is driving breakthrough impact, such as in the categories above, it maintains its strategic importance.”

In a published Harvard Business Review article, data from Gartner's annual CMO Spend and Strategy Survey shows that marketing budgets have yet to fully rebound to their pre-Covid levels. There's a pressing need for marketers to adapt and thrive in this new reality. The report indicates that average budgets have slipped from 9.5% of company revenue in 2022 to 9.1% in 2023.

Dom emphasizes the crucial shift in mindset needed for modern marketers. He asserts, "Marketing is an investment, not an expense. As CMO, the only way to protect our teams, budget, and brand is by putting 'points on the board' that the CFO understands and can endorse. Demonstrating changes in real business trends influenced by marketing – like in-store traffic and sales trends vs. a control – can show your CFO and C-suite that marketing is an investment, not an expense."