Communicators are proving their value in the C-suite and earning more accolades and empowerment in the process, yet a new survey reveals that marketers continue to struggle to align goals with company objectives, according to new data released from Plannuh, a software-as-a-service company transforming the way marketers plan and budget.
The company released the results of its latest Operational Marketing Index (OMI) survey, with a sample size of 544, that assesses the operational management practices of marketing teams. The Index also produces a set of tailored recommendations to help marketers improve their operational efficiency.
“We continue to be alarmed that so few marketing teams focus on strategic alignment of their plans,” said Peter Mahoney, founder and chief executive officer of Plannuh, in a news release. “The latest results from the Operational Marketing Index survey revealed that less than one in five marketers report that their companies excel at connecting their plans to corporate objectives, which explains why so many marketing teams struggle to show the value of their marketing investments.”
The survey revealed that most marketers are not basing their planning and execution on achieving goals:
- Only 18 percent of respondents said they excel at building a marketing plan based on a set of measurable goals that align with company objectives.
- Only 56 percent of marketers create comprehensive campaigns designed to achieve their goals.
- 31 percent allocate 60 percent or more of their budget to campaigns that support their goals, meaning that over two-thirds of marketers are spending a significant percentage of their budget on non-strategic initiatives.
In addition, many marketers have not built agile marketing plans and have trouble adapting to changes that occur in the business. The survey results show:
- 72 percent of marketers said they do little or no scenario planning (best and worst case) to prepare for internal and external changes to the business.
- More than half (56 percent) do not have a repeatable process in place to adapt once the changes occur over the course of the year.
The survey also highlighted that many marketers cannot prove the true value of their marketing based on return:
- 52 percent of marketers have difficulty measuring the true value of their marketing in terms of ROI.
- Only 21 percent of marketers excel at regularly measuring ROI on both their campaigns and the overall marketing plan.
Marketers can take the Operational Marketing Index survey to see how they stack up. Each respondent receives a customized report with best-practice recommendations for improvement.
