What Keeps Marketers Up at Night?

Not surprisingly, the foremost worry for marketers is reaching customers, with 82% saying it is a major concern, according to a recent survey by Adobe.

The next most common worries are understanding whether campaigns are working (79% of survey respondents) and proving campaign effectiveness (77%).

Demonstrating return on investment for marketing spend is the fourth biggest concern (75% of respondents), followed by using digital tools effectively (70%).

Below, additional key findings from the report, Digital Distress: What Keeps Marketers Up at Night?, which was based on data from an online survey of 1,000 US marketers (263 digital marketers and 754 generalists).

Digital Demands

• Only 48% of the digital marketers surveyed feel highly proficient in digital marketing.

• Generalists are even less confident, with just 37% saying that they feel highly proficient.

• Overall, only one in three marketers think their companies are highly proficient in digital marketing, and only two out of five marketers think their colleagues and peers are highly proficient.

• In particular, marketers feel ill equipped to tackle the digital challenges of e-commerce, personalization, and measurement.

Marketing Proficiency and Change

• In general, marketers have low confidence in their organization's marketing performance. Only 40% think their company's marketing is effective.

• Just 44% say their marketing departments have a great deal of influence over their organization's overall business strategy.

• 76% of marketers think marketing has changed more in the past two years than the past 50.

• Marketers are mixed on what areas to focus on in the futurewith social media, personalization, digital advertising, and cross-channel marketing all seen as rising in importance over the next three years.

ROI

• 83% of respondents said proving return on investment on marketing spends is important.

• 79% say it will be even more important to prove ROI in the next 12 months.

About the research: The report was based on data from an online survey of 1,000 US marketers (436 decision makers, 499 staff members; 263 digital marketers, and 754 marketing generalists). The survey was conducted between August 26 and September 11, 2013.

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