• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 11, 2019

A new study from the CMO Council and agency network Worldwide Partners finds that many marketers don’t believe their current go-to-market strategies are positioned to engage today’s connected consumer effectively.

The study, based on a survey of over 350 marketing leaders, found that just 20% of those polled believe their firms are able to meet the needs of the modern customer. The majority -- 73% -- indicated a partial ability to do so. And 77% said they believe they are not reaching the full revenue potential of today’s consumer.

“It is clear that thanks to the complexity and sheer scale of the global marketing machine, organizations have taken half measures and ‘almost there’ as a replacement for greatness,” the study concludes. “The question becomes …can we really afford to lose customer trust and engagement in the name of efficiency and effectiveness?”

For multinational firms, implementing effective local strategies is a major issue, per the study. Local intelligence appears to be a critical shortcoming, with more than 80% indicating that their local market intelligence capabilities are “just ok.” And 57% say that lack of local intelligence has had a negative impact on success.

“The quest for localization intelligence has become more urgent as marketing leaders fully recognize the lost opportunities,” the report states. “And the stark reality is that it is far more likely that their competitors are leveraging intelligence.”

Just over half said that driving growth is a primary strategic focus but just 10% said they felt “exceedingly confident” that they would reach their strategic goals for 2019 with their firm’s current capabilities. About 80% said they felt “fairly confident” or “confident” that they could do so.

The top five challenges holding organizations back, per the findings, are:

-- Budget limitations (59%)

-- Senior leadership shifting priorities and goals (30%)

-- Inconsistent alignment and collaboration across teams (29%)

-- Slow-moving culture adverse to change (25%)

-- Upskilling teams and talent (24%)

The full report can be accessed here.