In a fast evolving world, marketing automation expert Oracle Eloqua has uncovered the key challenges facing Modern Marketers – and discovered a surprising lack of self-esteem within the sector. Oracle Eloqua’s intensive report, Defining the Modern Marketer: From Real to Ideal, has highlighted several key areas on which marketing decision-makers need to focus – and a surprising lack of ego on the part of Modern Marketers themselves . . .
Real World vs. Ideal World
Modern Marketers revealed that they feel they’re underperforming when comparing themselves to the five core competencies driving the function of the ‘ideal marketer’:
Actual Ideal
Marketing technology 6% vs. 13%
Analytics 8% vs. 15%
Conversion 11% vs. 19%
Engagement 15% vs. 24%
Targeting 19% vs. 29%
Moving with the Times
But Modern Marketers should give themselves some credit – after all, it’ll be down to their stellar efforts that:
60% of marketers say their companies are now adopting and integrating Modern Marketing practices in 2013 . . .
compared to. . . just 15% in 2011.
Top Five Biggest Changes to Modern Marketing
What do Modern Marketers believe have been the most transformative factors in marketing?
No. 1 Ability to track marketing ROI due to technology (74%)
No. 2 Use of social media in marketing (61%)
No. 3 Maturation of demand generation and lead nurturing (44%)
No. 4 Shift of power from the brand to the customer (37%)
No. 5 Fragmentation of media (28%)
The Three Pillars of Marketing Success
Marketers place three factors above all others when seeking evidence of how successful their marketing has been:
- Marketing ROI 34%
- Marketing-influenced sales 21%
- Conversion rate 20%
Top to Bottom: the Digital Marketing Landscape Defined
What Modern Marketers believe are the most and least important digital marketing activities:
From top . . .
Email 58%
PR, blogging, customer case studies 44%
Social media 41%
. . . to bottom
Custom publishing 6%
Affiliate marketing 3%
Other/Mobile 3%
The Top Three Challenges Facing Marketers
Has lack of investment through the recession caused the problems marketers see today? Here’s what marketers said their top challenges are:
- The need to achieve faster and more relevant touch points in the market 48%
- Difficulty measuring ROI 38%
- Increased difficulty to making offer and timing of message specific to customer 32%
A helping hand? Or a hindrance?
With so many emerging challenges, Modern Marketers are increasingly turning to third-party suppliers to aid with their marketing campaigns – but overall satisfaction ratings with such providers are only rated at an average . . .
5.8 out of 10.
Remember…
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Creative skills and knowledge of marketing technology are of equal importance in the modern marketplace.
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Email is considered to be the most important digital marketing activity and the need for speed and relevance are the greatest challenges.
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Content-rich marketing tactics such as white papers and webcasts are essential for lead generation and lead nurturing.
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Modern Marketers believe they should ‒ and could ‒ be doing better.
To find out more about what makes the Ideal Modern Marketer, and the obstacles marketers face in trying to fulfil that role, click here for a free download of the full results of the report: Defining the Modern Marketer: From Real to Ideal