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What are a marketer’s biggest challenges?

Posted by Sheera Eby on September 9, 2013

Marketers are all faced with a number of challenges that influence their ability to meet their goals. To help understand how the hurdles they face rank, J&C asked marketers to identify which challenges are the greatest. In this study, marketers cited lack of time and too many priorities as their greatest challenges.

 

 

Several other factors also appeared to provide a challenge for marketers. Here is the chart, followed by a complete recap of findings and considerations for overcoming these challenges.

 

Insights and observations

mkt chart 1The leading challenge that marketers cite, at 40%, is too many priorities and not enough time. Shrinking internal resources is the next highest ranked challenge, with 29% of marketers stating this is their greatest challenge. It seems these two challenges could be somewhat related.

About a quarter of marketers also stated that they are facing shrinking budgets and pressure to ensure their budgets tie to measurement. Too many priorities and not enough time, shrinking budgets as well as shrinking internal resources all have a similar theme and similar organizational implications.

 

Tips and recommendations

1. Prioritize activities for internal and financial investment.
Marketers are constantly faced with emerging channels and a myriad of other distractions that are dividing their attention. Which channels are going to meet your goals in the most effective manner? Which things should you focus on? One approach is to determine your marketing priorities and then apply a percentage of time or allocation to these priorities among your internal staff and your outside partners/agencies. Applying this type of methodology can ensure you completely align all available resources, not just budget dollars, against the most critical priorities. And then right-size resource allocation where appropriate for medium to smaller priorities.

 

2. Set aside a test budget, and ensure the remaining majority of the budget is measurable.
Measurement and accountability are key themes in marketing today. And as someone that grew up in response marketing, measurement is in my DNA. The reality is that testing requires some risk, and that presents a challenge for many cultures. I’ve often heard clients say, “We can’t afford to test.” Yet testing is the lifeblood of improving program performance. One of the best suggestions I’ve ever heard is to set aside a portion of your marketing budget for testing. Allow this portion, whatever percentage it is, to be evaluated and measured differently from the majority of the budget.

 

3. Deliver relevancy in bite-sized pieces.
At first glance, relevancy sounds like it would entail more time and resources. But as you gain understanding of how to motivate engagement and action among groups, relevancy becomes easier. It allows you to focus marketing communications tactics and messaging against smaller groups. And it enables you to focus messaging into more bite-sized pieces rather than trying to be everything to everyone. Focused efforts tend to help manage execution and enable complex execution in stages.

 

 

4. Establish a tactical plan before launching new tactics.
Launching new tactics and channels can be challenging for many marketers. While establishing the strategy can feel like the most appealing part of the process, be sure to establish a tactical plan as well. For example, we’ve developed a 50-page SMS Marketing Guide for marketers looking to expand their current SMS efforts or initiate a new SMS marketing program. We highly recommend going through a methodical, strategic and tactical planning process when establishing or launching a new channel or program.

 

 

5. Determine how to optimize your current channels.
I’d argue marketers should focus more on optimizing their current channels and ensuring maximum performance. This can help marketers ensure their current time and resources are being allocated for the best possible return.

 

Marketing optimization comes down to applying best practices and testing various techniques to improve response. I’ve heard the question from clients, “But how much can we really increase response by?” It turns out optimizing a channel can improve response anywhere from 10% to 200%, making it a worthwhile investment of time and money. Sign your company up for one of J&C’s optimization workshops if you are interested in learning more about how to increase your marketing channel effectiveness.

 

What’s next

In a recent study we conducted among marketers, managing time and resources was the greatest challenge. A number of other challenges such as shrinking internal resources, shrinking budgets and measurement also surfaced. Consider if any of the tips above might help your organization. J&C also offers a number of workshops to help your company optimize its communications and increase its marketing effectiveness.

 

 

Topics: CMO

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