PROBIZ International - Vol-1 Probiz File final | Page 47

analyze and adapt to changes in consumer behavior quickly. The ability to quantify ROI and demonstrate real business results is an imperative as is the need for continuous improvement in marketing performance. It justifies the investment in advertising, not to mention the media, data, technology, resources and vendors that support it. The marketers surveyed made it clear that it’s not more data they are looking for, rather better insight. They’re aflush with dashboards, yet only a quarter are highly confident in ROI measurement, regardless of media type or trade spend. They’re equipped with marketing technology, yet less than quarter are very confident they have the right solution in place to accomplish their goals. Marketers are adapting by leaning into measurement and technology, but as with any evolutionary process, there are fits and starts, wrong turns and bad outcomes. The good news is that many brands have made it clear that they are willing to invest and learn. Eighty percent expect to increase their investment in marketing analytics in the next 12 months. Nearly half plan to increase spending with their media agencies. A large number reflected on how quickly their thinking around digital has progressed in recent years. Brand advertisers are increasingly organizing themselves in a more channel-agnostic way with customers at the center of their strategy. Four years ago that was not the case for over 70% of companies. Now, nearly as many marketers (62%) reported being organized in a way that supports an omnichannel approach with unified reporting structures and revenue goals. This is what is needed for advertisers to be able to respond to changes in consumer media consumption and buying behavior. It’s about meeting customer expectations by consistently delivering more relevant experiences. From an organizational perspective, this means various teams must work in tandem to ensure they are making data and channel integration a reality. Marketing technologists, media planners, creatives and data scientists must be better aligned. As many of our respondents attested, having a more unified, easy-to-use marketing, data management and measurement stack would be the best case scenario. An “easy button” as one our interviewees attested that allows the CMO to understand what’s happening across their media investments. As this report has demonstrated, many advertisers and agencies are doing their best to adapt to the changes we are seeing, but we’re not quite there yet. For all the progress being made, this report reveals a dichotomy between companies that have responded to this increasingly customer- first, omnichannel reality, and those that have hesitated due to organizational roadblocks, “old- fashioned” CMOs, institutional knowledge gaps and technology limitations. Like with Darwinian evolution, it’s a matter of adaptation and those companies that evolve the quickest will thrive. On the one hand, what’s needed is a simpler approach to marketing technology that integrates multi- channel consumer data and insights in one place. This helps brand advertisers more easily act on these insights across consumer end points, whether traditional or digital media. On the other hand, what’s required is independent measurement that utilizes standardized and comparable data, regardless of channel. This provides simplicity and transparency, and ensures most importantly that CMOs get what they pay for. August 2018 47