By Bruce Powell, Founder & Executive Recruiter
Marketers are faced with more challenges than ever before. The rapid change of pace within the industry has made it difficult for marketers to keep up, let alone succeed. According to a recent study by Adobe, 67% of marketers think marketing has changed more in the past two years than the past 50. That is a lot of change in a very small time span.
So, what are the biggest challenges faced by marketers today? The following discusses 3 big hurdles for marketers to overcome:
1. Lack of Training
With access to so much information, tools, resources, and with an ever-expanding global market, more and more marketers are feeling overwhelmed.
“About 60 percent of brand marketers believe they need more help from experts to get the most out of their digital efforts, and only 27 percent of those in mid- and senior-level brand and digital marketing positions consider themselves experts,” says Denise E. Zimmerman from iMedia Connection. With so much going on, marketers don’t have the time to master new skills and tools. They learn what they need to get by and accomplish the task at hand.
The need for more training is echoed in the finding of the Adobe study:
- Marketers are not confident in their digital ability. Only 48% of digital marketers feel highly proficient in digital marketing
- Most digital marketers don’t have formal training; 82% learn on the job
2. Justifying the Role of Marketing
For decades, marketers have felt the need to justify their role and prove to senior leaders that marketing initiatives are worth the investment. This is still the case today, but now marketers are faced with the task of selling the need for digital. “While 62 percent of brand marketers feel that they are now getting senior leadership support for digital, only one in three think that senior leadership at their company has a clear vision for the role of digital marketing,” says Zimmerman.
A study conducted by The Fournaise Group found that of the 1200 CEOs surveyed, 80% admitted to not trusting marketers. They believe that marketers tend to be disconnected with the financial realities of running a company.
3. Customer Retention and Satisfaction
Once you get a customer, you need to work hard to keep them. Consumers have more options, and people are less loyal to brands than ever before. A recent IBM study found that 42% of respondents believe that acquiring new customers was the biggest challenge, while 36% suggested driving loyalty and satisfaction was the most demanding task marketers face.
What’s the Key to Overcoming Marketing Challenges?
The key to overcoming these hurdles is to become first adopters to new technology and not lose sight of the importance of engaging customers and providing great customer experiences through marketing.
“Marketers who are driving better firm results are doing something different than their less successful counterparts. They tend to be significantly more adept at tracking, technology, and analytics and use these tools to develop more sophisticated and adaptable solutions. They are more engaged in all customer service interactions and tend to personalize marketing offers. In short, stronger firm-wide leaders are more engaged in all customer interaction, and seem to have greater competency in what is necessary to be successful today,” says Kimberly A. Whitler on Forbes.
Contact our Recruiters in Toronto to check out the latest marketing job opportunities and contact us to learn more about advancing your marketing career.
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IQ PARTNERS is an Executive Search & Recruitment firm in Toronto. We help companies hire better, hire less & retain more. We have specialist teams of recruiters in Financial Services & Insurance, Marketing Communications & Media, Emerging Tech & Telecom, Consumer Goods & Retail, B2B & Industrial, Technology, Accounting & Finance, HR & Operations and Mining & Engineering. IQ PARTNERS has its head office in Toronto and operates internationally via Aravati Global Search Network. Click here to view current job openings and to register with us.
