CXOs – Get Marketing On Track!

Alterian‘s December 2008 research is starting to reverberate around the Marketing world. While some leading trade publications are still picking up the news, the message is clear – most marketers still need to get their act together, but thankfully realize it.  The main problem is money (of course), time, and corporate culture.

This United Kingdom-based leading analytics platform company has a lot to say in its report.  While a majority of firms (62% of marketers, agencies, service providers and integrators) are planning to increase their online marketing spending this year, the efficacy of that investment will be difficult to determine because only 47% of the survey participants (1,545 in North America and the UK) currently engage analytics tools to assess results.

Part of the challenge is a human capital one – too many “marketers” are on the “soft” or “art” side of marketing and not on the “hard” or “science” side of marketing.  Perhaps the wrong people are in your organization. It takes time and money to hire and train the right people.  However, this has to be done to survive in the future.

According to the report, 51% reported using three to six applications in campaigns; 23% reported using seven or more; 26% use two or fewer.  Marrone! Talk about “swivel-chair” management!

An onus is on CxOs to help overworked, underbudgeted marketers – the lifeblood of the firm is the data that marketing gathers, stores, analyzes, shares, and acts upon.  They must help marketers consolidate onto more efficient, easier to use platforms. And if that means SaaS based platforms where your IT department isn’t “leading,” accept that. It’s not an invasion on your turf. It’s a pass to focus on other pressing needs, leaving specific IT headaches to willing service providers. Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) platforms are here to stay.

The cultural transformation that a firm must undergo starts with the realization of the above paragraph.  It’s all about a evolving to a network centric marketing environment.  The company’s website and its other online marketing tools must be at the core of their operations.

The Marketing Consigliere will keep whispering this into the ears of corporate leadership.  They are free to take his advice or ignore it.  But if they do not heed his generous advice and fall further behind, the Consigliere will shed no tears.