The discipline of marketing is becoming increasingly complex. It’s also becoming more and more technical, along with the rise in importance, and continued proliferation of, new marketing platforms, techniques and technologies.

This means it’s all too easy for marketers to get bogged down in the detail of the day job and forget how important it is to sell internally as well as externally.

But alongside this challenge lies opportunity, as a report from Gartner, published earlier this year, points out. Gartner’s 2014 CEO surveyrevealed how CEOs see a leading role for marketing in digital business, with marketers expected to aid the growth charge.

We asked a panel of CEOs what they think is the best way for marketing teams to go about this and to please the head honcho in the process.

Nicholas Green, founder and CEO, Printed.com: “Help us understand what is or isn’t working”

“We need people who understand data, the sales funnel and the principles of optimisation. It’s very maths-heavy these days. Marketing traditionally was more about an idea. The catalyst has been the growth of online.

“You’ve got a lot of different channels now and you’ve got to find a way to bring them together. That’s the great challenge for marketing.