Companies in the UK are failing to focus on key strategies and insight that would provide a strong foundation for their marketing.
Recent research looking to identify the trends and gaps in current marketing approaches found a quarter of businesses do not currently have a fully documented marketing strategy, and a further third have not reviewed their strategy within the past 12 months.
The study – commissioned by The Marketing Pod – also discovered planning and measurement were similarly lacking attention from senior marketing professionals and decision-makers. Some 45% do not have predefined metrics to measure the success of each marketing channel they use.
Businesses are marketing in the dark with weak insight.
Despite the majority of businesses being able to identify their target audience, some are failing to act upon this insight. The research revealed a third of respondents are not targeting marketing activity at their priority customer base, and nearly half are failing to segment their marketing activities depending on their audience members’ needs.
This led to over a third of respondents admitting they were unsure how their customers perceived them – this could be due to lack of research, with 40% having not conducted primary customer research in the past 12 months.
Jodie Williams, co-founder and director of The Marketing Pod said updating marketing plans and investing in customer insight and measurement can make all the difference.
“Our research has revealed businesses could be putting themselves at a commercial disadvantage and therefore missing out on opportunities, particularly in the current climate where businesses must compete fiercely for new customers and work hard to retain their existing ones,” said Williams.
The research initially surveyed 107 senior marketing professionals and decision-makers and a further 170 respondents took part to create a benchmark for organisations to measure their performance in this area following the research results.
