November 21, 2013The digital revolution has created exciting new avenues for delivering branded messaging, gathering market data and leveraging consumer insights into actionable intelligence, but with every new opportunity comes a series of hurdles. For some business-to-business marketers the task of clearing those obstacles is proving challenging.According to a survey released during the summer by the Business Marketing Association and Forrester Research, technological advances and regulations are pushing business-to-business marketing executives outside their comfort zone, and forcing many to take on roles for which they are unprepared, or at least under-supported.
The poll of 117 B2B marketing executives found that 97% of respondents are encountering tasks they have never done before, and nearly two-thirds report struggling to keep up. More than a third say they are “overwhelmed” by the pace of change.
It’s easy to see why. Today’s CMOs are saddled with the traditional responsibilities of brand management and organizational oversight, as well as the added demands of applying and monitoring new policies around social media, juggling uniquely tailored campaigns across an array of new digital channels, ensuring compliance with evolving privacy mandates and responding mid-course to market fluctuations.
And if that’s not enough, thanks to competition for skilled workers many executives are finding themselves doing more with less. More than 40% of marketing executives say that they can’t find the right combination of people and skills in the job market, and, even when they do, they have difficulty finding the time and resources to properly train them. Six-out-of-ten polled CMOs say they intentionally seek out tech savvy younger workers in the hopes of eliminating some of the pressure.
On the technological side, marketing executives are facing difficulty effectively leveraging data analytics.
“There is a concern that we’re drowning in too much data,” said Jonathan Becher, CMO at software company SAP, quoted recently by BtoB Magazine. “Companies may be focusing on what’s easy to measure rather than on what’s important to measure.”
A separate Forrester report released in September found that less than half of B2B marketers believe they understand which metrics are most important to key stakeholders.
There is also evidence that B2B marketers are struggling more than their counterparts in the consumer space to optimize real-time data in their marketing decisions. A newly released scorecard from the CMO Council based on a survey of 230 North American marketing executives gave B2B marketers “F” grades when it comes to the real-time delivery of sales intelligence, and data accuracy, depth and reliability.
Only 12% of executives had a real-time, well-integrated view of all customer interactions across the organization.
Almost across the board analysts say the key to getting on-track and staying there is to define and prioritize best practices, which means having a goal and a plan to accomplish it. This requires not only the ability to let go of long-held practices and exploring different management and leadership models, but learning to collaborate with other executives (especially the CIO) and delegate responsibilities when applicable.
The message is clear: Marketing success in the digital age is truly a team effort.