Many marketers need to find ways to close the loop and plenty still need skilled talent to successfully use marketing automation at their organization. These were key issues found in a marketing automation survey report—the first of its kind.
The recent study by CleverTouch, a British marketing automation consultancy, surveyed 200 marketing directors, heads and CMOs from a variety of regions in the U.K., U.S. and Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EMEA). The biggest takeaway: these companies need more experts. The survey found 40 percent of respondents believe the lack of skills and competence is stopping them from fully succeeding in its marketing automation strategy.
The press release stated the worldwide survey “reveals a gap in the perceived benefits of marketing automation in contrast to the reality of adaptation.” Marketing automation is supposed to maximize efficiency and increase revenue, but the survey found 48 percent of respondents use marketing automation recruiting specialist talent. To get employees to understand and master the company’s marketing automation tools, 49 percent of respondents rely on vendors and 48 percent recruit specialist skills.
Furthermore, the survey found 33 percent of organizations use external consultants to cultivate marketing automation skills and only 13 percent keep its delivery strictly in-house. Despite these findings, 70 percent of companies without marketing automation technology intend to train and educate their staff on it.
Many organizations realize sales and marketing delineation is becoming an antiquated process and nurture the growth of their alignment. Marketing Automation is a big asset to help combine these forces and the survey found 44 percent of respondents use it for lead generation, 41 percent use it for lead nurturing campaigns and 40 percent use it for account-based marketing. Nonetheless, there are still certain attitudes and judgment towards each department. Around 31 percent of respondents see their marketing department as equals to the sales department. On the flip side, 28 percent of those surveyed see marketing as a “change agent and driver of new thinking.”
When it comes to competing technologies, the survey revealed 31 percent of respondents say customer relationship management (CRM) is more valuable to their organization than marketing automation. Around 51 percent believe they’re both equally important.
In a response to the survey, CleverTouch launched a “War for Talent” campaign to get more people interested in marketing automation. The campaign’s site states the 120 percent growth in the technology calls for more experts. They also highlighted the U.K.’s high unemployment rate as a pool to tap into in order to train more people on marketing automation. Essentially their goal is to kill to birds with one stone: open a new career option and relieve the issues many companies are facing.
