FORBES INSIGHTS RESEARCH REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF MARKETING. Marketing Operations is the Key to Success. In association with:

Transcription

1 FORBES INSIGHTS RESEARCH REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF MARKETING Marketing Operations is the Key to Success In association with:

2 A Letter from Leadership In 2016, Aprimo (formerly Teradata Marketing Applications) and Forbes teamed up to survey global marketing leaders about the future of marketing. What we determined from our survey results was this: marketers who will succeed in 2017 and beyond are those who embrace and adopt the discipline of Marketing Operations. Why? Because innovation combined with Marketing Operations frees marketers to do what they do best perform smart marketing. And that means more content in the market that s strategically aligned to each customer journey. Marketers who have an infrastructure that allows them to remain agile and enables them to respond to a rapidly changing global market are the ones who will develop meaningful customer connections. And that, ultimately, results in creating loyal, lifelong brand advocates. This report highlights the benefits of automating marketing to enable agility. Here s to creating smarter marketing in 2017! All the best, Contents Executive Overview...3 Survey Demographics...4 What Is Marketing Agility?... 5 The Current State of Agile Marketing...6 The Key to Success... 7 How Organisations Are Planning to Increase Marketing Agility... 9 John Stammen Aprimo CEO What s Next for Marketers?...10 The Future: Mind the Gap aprimo.com 2

3 Executive Overview The consumer relationship with an organisation s brand is something far more complex than it was a decade ago. In the past, a company s brand was a byproduct of the core business (e.g., Ford: Quality is Job One), but today, a brand is a living thing one that is continuously being created in parallel with the company itself, and one that has intrinsic value that draws people directly to it. Consumers today want to associate more with the brand than with other, less interesting elements of the company. Some even invest in organisations simply because they have solid, globally recognisable brands. Today s consumers control their individual brand experience. Before consumers even think about having a live conversation with a company representative, they have typically engaged in conversations across multiple channels by reading product and/or service content and interacting online. From distribution channels to payment methods to interactions, consumers want and expect a seamless brand experience. But with today s explosion of channels and customer touchpoints, creating a positive brand experience is harder to achieve and manage than ever before. So what does that mean for modern marketers? In a digital first world, it means marketers are under an exponentially heightened pressure to increase speed-to-market and effectiveness windows to meet consumer demands. Consistently. On time. Every time. At every hour of the day. aprimo.com 3

4 Survey Demographics The combined Forbes and Aprimo study honed in on the current and future state of marketing, as well as the agility required to keep pace with the demands of today's consumer. The survey spanned multiple geographies, numerous industries, and was completed by a variety of marketing leaders. Geographies Industries 15 % Europe Asia 33 % 32% 1 % Middle East or Africa 33 % US 12 % 14 % 15 % 16 % The results reveal that although there is still ample opportunity for improvement, organisations are trending toward adopting more agile marketing processes to meet, respond to, and exceed consumer expectations. Financial Services Organisational Level Healthcare & Medicine Insurance Retail Technology Senior Executive 31 % 13 % Vice President Director Manager Other 25 % 30 % 1 % aprimo.com 4

5 How Do Marketers Measure Success? By Achieving True Marketing Agility With the following definition of marketing agility in mind, survey participants were asked how they measure success: Marketing agility is about aligning and adjusting marketing processes in a way that meets the demands of when, where, and how a consumer wants to engage. According to the survey, marketers measure success by their ability to succeed in the following areas: A flexible, intelligent Marketing Operations platform brings order to marketing chaos by adapting to consumer needs while simultaneously maintaining best practices. Efficiency (faster speed-to-market) On-time completion of marketing projects Customer focus (increased customer response) Flexible approach to changing customer needs 37% 30% 27% 24% aprimo.com 5

6 The Current State of Agile Marketing So how agile do marketers consider themselves today? 45% of survey respondents say technology is the most critical factor contributing to the success of their organisation s agile marketing efforts, while 33% report that process/organisation is the most critical factor. 45 % 74 % 29 % 74% of respondents cite agility of Marketing Operations as a current marketing challenge, but additional survey data proves that organisations are ready and willing to improve their marketing agility, especially as budgets and support for agility increase. 29% of respondents strongly agree that their company fully embraces marketing agility. 43% of those surveyed are exploring ways to implement marketing workflow management. aprimo.com 6

7 The Key to Success Modern marketers are learning the customer journey as customers themselves are experiencing their own journey. In the past, marketers made bold predictions, such as: If I discount, they will buy based on instinct. Today s environment is much more nuanced and complex. Marketers must be able to measure their success based on learnings instead of instincts. Steps must be taken to ensure process and measurement are enabled. The best way to achieve this is to implement the right kind of agile technology that supports on-going consumer examination and education a platform that recognises and builds upon past successes to create future wins. aprimo.com 7

8 Feel like you re getting left behind? Don t worry many organisations are still in the midst of implementing a Marketing Operations solution to help them bridge the gap. Now more than ever, Marketing Operations is essential to successful modern marketing, as dictated by today's highly complex and multifaceted environment. Unfortunately, more than 51% of marketers say their companies are among the last to adopt the technology that makes marketing agility possible. 1 Technology that automates Marketing Operations makes marketers more nimble and agile and ultimately, more successful. Only 23% of respondents currently consider themselves highly successful in using agile marketing to deliver relevant, individualised customer communications. All respondents indicate these as the top areas in which they've had success. Faster speed-to-market 27% Increased customer response 22% Marketing projects completed on time 28% Marketing projects completed on budget 26% Flexible approach to changing customer needs 26% Increased accountability across the marketing function 20% Increased marketing collaboration 20% Faster shifts of marketing spend 9% More efficient marketing iterations 21% Increased real-time customer experience 18% Higher marketing metrics and KPIs 23% Fewer layers of marketing approval 16% Transparency of marketing spend 11 % 1 Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2016, Understanding the New Martech Buyer Journey Whitepaper June 2015; aprimo.com 8

9 How Organisations Are Planning to Increase Marketing Agility Implementing marketing plan and spend management 43% Hiring new talent 42% Implementing marketing workflow management 43% Implementing content production management 38% Although stand-up meetings can be beneficial to certain processes, they are not a marketing agility panacea. In fact, without the right technology and infrastructure in place, they can create more problems than they solve. Likewise, hiring new talent can bring insight and depth to an organisation, but without the right processes in place, high turnover and quality control issues often result. The factors considered most critical for agile marketing success are: Ensuring content compliance 36% Implementing a flatter organisation 32% Technology Process/organisation 33% 45% Engaging a third party 32% Company culture 17% Creating stand-up meetings 24% Budget 5% aprimo.com 9

10 What s Next for Marketers? Although agile marketing presents many challenges, it also offers unprecedented opportunities to connect more strongly with individuals. Interestingly enough, some of the top marketing challenges address the need to prove ROI, attribute business outcomes to agility, and boost budgets. On the flip side of these issues, Hubspot s State of Inbound 2016 Report reveals that marketers who are able to calculate ROI are 1.6 times more likely to receive higher budgets. Overall, only 28% of respondents "completely agree" that their organisation's current corporate culture, technology, processes, and budget support agile marketing. (And unfortunately, 3% report no support for agile marketing.) 31% say a year from now, they ll still be working toward becoming more agile, while another 31% says their progress will depend on resource availability. Marketers cite their top agile marketing challenges as: Too much organisational bureaucracy 47% Difficulty proving the ROI of agile marketing 37% Employees are not empowered to make decisions 32% Difficulty showing how agile marketing leads to business outcomes 27% Operating in a siloed/hierarchical organisation 27% Budgetary issues 26% Lack of vision from top management 23% Not having the right technologies 17% Not having enough IT talent 14% Not having enough marketing department talent 14% Difficulty choosing the right third party 12% aprimo.com 10

11 The Future: Mind the Gap Marketing moves fast. But agile marketers move faster. Automating Marketing Operations is the future of marketing. And implementing the right technology can help marketers regain control of their marketing. Not only is it smart but it s vital for marketers to mind the gap between traditional and automated marketing. By establishing best practices and a methodology for continuous learning, smarter marketers hold the key to current and future success in an ever-evolving marketing landscape. Channel Complexity Traditional marketing Digital First Marketing The Marketing Operational Gap Resource Capacity Content aprimo.com 11

12 About Aprimo Aprimo is a category-leading marketing operations platform that frees marketers to focus on smart marketing by managing the five essentials: plan, spend, create, distribute, and perform. Aprimo s comprehensive suite improves time-to-market and maximises a company s marketing investment to drive revenue. Aprimo is head-quartered in Chicago, with global R&D and customer support in Indianapolis, and international operations based in London. For more information, visit About Forbes Insights Forbes Insights is the strategic research and thought leadership practice of Forbes Media, a global media, branding and technology company whose combined platforms reach nearly 75 million business decision makers worldwide on a monthly basis. By leveraging proprietary databases of senior-level executives in the Forbes community, Forbes Insights conducts research on a wide range of topics to position brands as thought leaders and drive stakeholder engagement. Research findings are delivered through a variety of digital, print and live executions, and amplified across Forbes' social and media platforms. aprimo.com Aprimo and the Aprimo logo are registered trademarks of Aprimo LLC and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and worldwide. Aprimo continually improves products as new technologies and components become available. Aprimo, therefore, reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. All features, functions, and operations described herein may not be marketed in all parts of the world. Consult your Aprimo representative or Aprimo.com for more information.