Four out of Five Senior Marketers Are ‘Data Blind’ as They Struggle with Influx of Analytics

80 Percent Feel the Industry as a Whole Focuses on Too Many Performance Metrics

The vast majority (83 percent) of senior marketers are struggling to adapt to the volume of data, while 80 percent of these marketers feel the industry as a whole focuses on too many performance metrics, according to a new global report released today.

In partnership with global research company Censuswide, Domo, the cloud-based operating system for business, polled 681 senior marketers around the world on their opinions, routines and plans for the future. It revealed that analytics, from a vast number of sources, are driving ‘data blindness’ as marketers lose sight of important KPIs, and 78 percent of respondents admit to chasing short-term results over long-term strategy.

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“Despite having more data about the customer journey than ever before, marketing leaders have more pressure from the business and more challenges in keeping up,” said Josh James, founder and CEO, Domo. “Today’s hyperkinetic business environment calls for marketers to have a new modus operandi, helping them balance marketing’s strategic and operational needs, while creating customer value across all marketing activity and clearly communicating it to the bottom line.”

To reduce operational and strategic complexity, almost a quarter of large enterprise organizations (23 percent) are preparing to spend up to 40 percent of their marketing budget on data management and analytics in the next 12 months. An even greater number (70 percent) will allocate at least a fifth to this type of technology.

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The study also found that as a result of the changing nature of marketing, many senior marketers are finding it difficult to hire the right employees and upskill their current workforce. More than one-third (35 percent) of marketers at large enterprise organizations said their main recruitment priority is to build a rounded team with a balance of data and creative skills. Skills in data security and compliance were also reported (45 percent) as one of the top three skills being sought after as data from across the business becomes more critical to marketing’s success. Not surprisingly, creative skills (45 percent), and data science and analytics skills (42 percent) were the other top two.

Today, marketers see the use of data as a driving force within the sector. A fifth of all marketers believe the biggest benefit of increased data is the ability to make key marketing decisions faster — and in real time. In addition, a quarter of respondents say it enables them to build better-informed strategies.

“More intelligent use of data is central to a new approach to marketing,” said James. “The result will be a marketing organization that creates customer value, increases transparency around results and enables marketers to focus on strategy and execution.”

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