Commentary

Multichannel Marketing Held Back By Lack Of Tools And Talent

Some 85.6% of marketers participating in a CMO Club study say that customer data stuck in silos prevents them from running multichannel campaigns that use data to personalize the experience. The study calls them omnichannel -- as in all-encompassing.

The study, conducted with assistance from Visual IQ, reveals that 84.6% of marketers believe their company lacks the appropriate tools or technology to get the job done correctly. Some 82.2% do not have the ability to measure cross-channel performance or return on investment. About 80.3% lack the in-house talent with the necessary skill set to implement and maintain the project.

Other impediments include cost, organization structure, and an inability to gain a complete view of the purchasing cycle, as well as insufficient support from partners and agencies. Some prefer to wait for clearly defined best practices. The rest don't understand the benefits.

One thing is certain -- marketers have set clear priorities in 2014. Invitations were sent to 1,042 individuals. Of those, 223 responded. Among the respondents, some 86.7% spend more than $5 million in online marketing, while 39.9% spend more than $50 million.

The study -- which set out to define a baseline for CMOs and their respective organizations -- found flaws in the methods used to measure the performance of marketing practices. It also examined the ability of marketers to effectively measure and optimize performance and provided insight into the steps they need to take to implement a complete strategy that supports most media and the obstacles preventing them from carrying out the project.

The study contained 10 questions. Aside from the challenges related to multichannel campaigns, the study also highlights a lack of confidence among marketers. CMOs lack the confidence in their departments to quantify the impact of offline channels like direct mail on online response channels such as search marketing.

Only 4.8% of CMOs said they are completely confident, followed by 20.2%, very confident; 44.2%, moderately confident; 17.8%, a little confident; 11.5%, not at all confident; and 1.4% don't know or say it doesn't apply.

And when asked how confident the CMOs are in their organization's ability to identify the combination of channels and tactics that produce the company's highest-value customer segments, only 1.4% said they are completely confident. Some 13.9% said they are very confident; 18.8%, moderately confident; 44.2%, a little confident; 20.7%, not at all confident; and 1% said they don't know or it doesn't apply.

1 comment about "Multichannel Marketing Held Back By Lack Of Tools And Talent".
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  1. Saeed El-Darahali from SimplyCast Interactive Marketing, January 17, 2014 at 6:09 p.m.

    We are hearing very similar complaints from our customers around the world. Furthermore, the terms currently being used, such as, inbound marketing, marketing automation, cross-channel marketing, etc. are causing confusion and many of the players in the space are focused on one or another. The goal should be to streamline customer flow communication and deliver the right message to customers without spending your margins.

    We should put together panel of speaks on this topic and help create best practices initiative to help clients understand the benefits of customer flow communication practices.

    Regards,
    Saeed El-Darahali
    President & CEO
    SimplyCast.com

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