64% of marketers expect their role to change in the next
year; social marketers, data analysts and mobile marketers in high
demand
Adobe Digital Marketing Summit — While two in five
(40%) marketers stated that they want to reinvent themselves, only
14% of those marketers actually know how to go about it, according
to research released today from Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE). The study,
Digital Roadblock: Marketers Struggle to Reinvent Themselves,
is based on a survey of more than 1,000 marketing professionals in
the U.S. and exposes fresh insights into the attitudes and beliefs
of marketers as they struggle to redefine their roles and expand
their skills. The findings are being released today at Adobe’s 12th
annual Digital Marketing Summit, a conference attracting over 5,000
marketing professionals.
Underscoring the rapid transformation of the marketing
profession, 64% of marketers expect their role to change in the
next year and 81% believe their role will change in the next three
years. But the path to reinvention remains a challenge. Respondents
cited lack of training in new marketing skills (30%) and
organizational inability to adapt (30%) among the top obstacles to
becoming the marketers they aspire to be.
Risk Aversion Holding Marketers Back
Asked to describe the ideal, successful marketer 12 months from
now, 54% of marketers said they should take more risks, and 45%
hope to take more risks themselves. On the topic of new
technologies, marketers are generally playing it safe, with 65%
saying they are more comfortable adopting new technologies once
they become mainstream.
The findings also highlighted a gap between marketers in
companies that spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on
digital campaigns compared to those that spend less than 10% on
digital. Marketers in high digital-spend companies are more likely
to believe (82%) they need to reinvent themselves to succeed,
versus low digital-spend companies (67%). Marketers from
high-performing companies* are three times more likely (23%) to say
they know how to reinvent themselves than low performers (8%).
“The shift to digital requires new technology, new approaches
and, in many cases, entirely new roles for marketers,” said Ann
Lewnes, chief marketing officer for Adobe. “The good news is that
marketers see the change in front of them, and understand they need
to embrace data, focus on creating personalized experiences and
work across their social, Web and mobile channels. They just need
to take the plunge.”
Data Seen As Important, But Not Always Utilized
A majority of marketers (76%) agreed they need to be more
data-focused to succeed, but 49% report “trusting my gut” to guide
decisions on where to invest their marketing budgets. Seventy-two
percent of marketers agree their long-term success is tied to
proving marketing return on investment.
Seventy-four percent of marketers say that capturing and
applying data to inform and drive marketing activities is the new
reality, and 69% agree on the need to embrace “hyper
personalization” (i.e., using data to provide the right products,
services and content at the right time). Yet only 39% of marketers
report using consumer data and behavior patterns to shape marketing
strategy in the past 12 months; 45% plan to use more consumer data
and behavior in the next 12 months.
“CEOs expect their CMOs to be leaders in digital business
innovation and growth, and no one has a better seat at the
intersection of ‘digital’ and ‘customers’ than marketers. So
marketers must act now to transform themselves and their
organizations,” said Yvonne Genovese, managing vice president,
Marketing Leaders Research, Gartner. “This starts with embracing
the business of digital marketing and the technology that supports
their business objectives. They also need to grasp the new data –
all focused on customers and the results of digital marketing
efforts. If they don’t, they risk seeing someone else step in to
lead digital.”
Mobile, Multi-Channel and Personalization Becoming Bigger
Priorities
Sixty-nine percent of marketers agree that mobile is a critical
element to get right. In terms of media types and platforms, 61% of
marketers see social media as the most critical area of focus 12
months from now, followed closely by mobile at 51%. Print (9%) and
TV (7%) ranked last. Sixty-three percent of marketers said they
were doing more social marketing compared to last year, and more
than half said they were doing more direct customer engagement via
e-mail (51%) and digital analytics (51%) than they were in
2013.
These priorities are driving a shift to more investment in
digital talent within marketing organizations. Marketers cited
digital/social marketer (47%), data analyst (38%), creative
services (38%) and mobile marketer (36%) as key roles companies
need to invest in over the next 12 months.
The survey also provides insight into what specific behavior
marketers believe will make the biggest single difference in their
effectiveness: the ability to work better across channels rose to
the top (21%), followed by the ability to measure and learn from
campaign effectiveness (16%).
When asked to prioritize one capability that will be most
important to their company’s marketing moving forward,
personalization ranked highest. Sixty-three percent of
high-performing companies say that they are completely focused or
very focused on personalizing experiences for customers, compared
to 53% of average or low-performing companies.
About Digital Roadblock: Marketers Struggle to Reinvent
Themselves
The data points referenced above come from a study commissioned
by Adobe, produced by research firm Edelman Berland and conducted
as an online survey among a total of 1,004 US marketers. Data was
collected between Feb. 19-27, 2014 by ResearchNow. The margin of
error at the 95% confidence level for the total sample is +/- 3.1%.
Data was also broken out by the following sub-groups: Companies
with (self-reported) low or average business performance (n=595)
vs. companies with superior business performance (n=409). Companies
with high digital spend, or where digital spend was >25% of
total marketing budget (n=465), vs. companies with low digital
spend, or where digital spend was <10% of total marketing budget
(n=153).
For more information, view the infographic, view the animated
infographic or read the full study at Digital Roadblock: Marketers
Struggle to Reinvent Themselves.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For
more information, visit www.adobe.com.
*Companies with (self-reported) below average or average
business performance, i.e. had performed similarly to key
competitors or had recorded lower sales or revenue than key
competitors (n=595) vs. companies with superior business
performance, i.e. had out-performed key competitors in terms of
sales or revenue (n=409)
© 2014 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe
and the Adobe logo are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140324006503/en/
Adobe Systems IncorporatedJodi Sorensen,
408-536-2084jsorensen@adobe.comorEdelmanJohn Derryberry,
650-762-2817john.derryberry@edelman.com
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