Almost half (49 per cent) of B2B brands plan to invest in marketing automation (MA) staff training over the next year, a new report published by B2B Marketing has revealed.
The research highlighted B2B brands MA investment priorities over the next 12 months. Investment in ‘training’ was followed by spending on ‘more advanced features’ (selected by 32 per cent), ‘consultants’ (22 per cent) and ‘data analysis’ (21 per cent).
However, worryingly a large chunk (27 per cent) admitted that they do not plan to invest any further in their software over the next year.
Meanwhile, the study showed that the majority (78 per cent) of B2B marketers are confident that they will be able to keep up-to-date with marketing automation (MA) best practice in the future.
Twenty-two per cent of respondents said they were ‘very confident’ in their ability to stay informed with future MA developments, and a further 56 per cent said they were ‘confident’.
On the other hand, just 21 per cent of marketers admitted they were ‘not very confident’ about staying ahead of future MA best practice, and just one per cent said they were ‘not at all confident’.
Alex Aspinall, head of content at B2B Marketing, explained the reasons why some marketers are worried about keeping up with changes: “For those willing to imagine a scenario in which they might be at risk of getting left behind, relatively few cite the speed of change (31 per cent) and access to advice (12 per cent) as being likely explanations.
“Instead respondents were more ready to point the finger at technical skills shortages and a lack of resources. These are very real concerns and marketers are right to acknowledge them as factors that could potentially cause their organisations to slip behind more committed competitors.”