One of the most jarring data points in “Eliminating Complexity for a Frictionless Marketing Experience,” a new research report from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services sponsored by Quad: Just 30% of respondents, all involved in their organizations’ marketing decisions, rate their organization’s marketing as “very effective” today.
In other words, most marketers are kind of underwhelmed by… their own marketing.
If that sounds like something of an existential crisis, well, it is.
But helpfully, the HBR Analytic Services’ report has a lot to say about exactly why marketers are struggling to produce effective marketing — and the report also identifies what the marketers who are satisfied with their own marketing are doing right.
The full report, which was commissioned by Quad, can be downloaded here. It’s based on an in-depth global survey of 527 members of the Harvard Business Review audience, all involved in their organizations’ marketing decisions. The size of the organizations ranges from 10,000 or more employees (31% of the respondents) down to 100-499 employees (24%) and covers industry sectors including financial services and technology. (More details on the participant profile and the survey methodology appear on page 9 of the report.)
Here’s a quick executive summary of some of the report’s key findings:
Marketers may be struggling to create effective marketing, but they’re not experiencing a crisis of faith
That existential crisis we mentioned above isn’t actually about marketers doubting marketing itself. Nearly 9 in 10 (89%) survey respondents say it’s more important than ever that marketing play a strategic role within organizations.
Marketing complexity from the proliferation of channels is a major pain point
As the report puts it, “Today’s media mix is negatively impacting many marketers’ stress levels.” Drilling down: “More than half — 53% — say their marketing team feels overwhelmed by the amount of channels they need to manage within the media mix. Even efforts to reduce media mix complexity by teaming up with external partners with specialized skills can backfire: 59% of respondents say the need to have specialists who know about each new marketing channel creates complexity for their team.”
The challenge of managing a complex network of partners can hurt marketing operations
The HBR Analytic Services report also takes on what it calls “the marketing sector’s labyrinthine network of partners, ranging from content creators and agencies to referral partners and affiliates.” The survey findings are striking: “Nearly half (47%) of respondents cite a complex network of partners for negatively impacting marketing operations significantly or moderately. Only 34% believe they perform ‘very well’ in managing these external partner relationships.”
Overall marketing complexity by the numbers
The big picture on marketing complexity, according to the HBR Analytic Services report: “77% of respondents say their organization faces ‘some’ or ‘a lot of’ complexity within its current marketing ecosystem, and 66% say rising