According to new research from integrated marketing data platform Adverity, chief marketing officer’s are ‘drowning’ in data and distracted from focusing on consumer behaviour.
A third of marketing leaders (33%) are more focused on the impact of the rising number of channels and platforms than increasingly complicated consumer behaviour (17%). Findings suggest that growth in data volumes may be a significant cause behind this imbalance of priorities.
The report, titled ‘‘Recession, Resilience, & Marketing Data: What’s shaping the CMO’s roadmap?’, surveyed around 300 CMOs from across the US, UK, and DACH region from small to midsize businesses.
The intention of the initial study was to uncover key challenges for CMOs in the current climate of ‘accelerated change, digitalisation and uncertainty’.
While 85% of industry leaders agree that the capacity to make data-driven decisions is a critical competitive advantage, almost seven in ten (67%) feel the volume of marketing data available has become overwhelming. A further 99% of those surveyed use ten or more data sources, with 52% admitting to use more than 14.
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“These findings suggest many businesses are at risk of missteps as the global economy declines, with unwieldy data preventing smart pivots, and distracting CMOs from the need to align experiences with shifting consumer needs,” Adverity said.
Additionally, as many as (27%) marketing heads have said that their budget has decreased and the majority (44%) have said that they are working with the same spending pot as last year.
“CMOs have become overly bogged down by data challenges and lost sight of their core purpose: meeting the needs of the consumer,” Adverity CMO Harriet Durnford Smith said.
“As channels and platforms have expanded, so has the quantity of incoming data about audience interactions and marketing performance. Failing to implement efficient systems for managing this data, however, means they are now wary of smart tools and battling to bring disordered information into order, when they should be using it to inform efforts that create consistently strong consumer connections.
“Fixing this problem is far from impossible, but CMOs need to move quickly as global market conditions worsen.”
