Half of senior UK marketers score their business’s overall campaign execution as below average (less than 11 out of 20) and only 6% would rate their teams’ performance as genuinely agile when it comes to defining, creating and executing marketing campaigns.
Meanwhile, one in eight (13%) also admit that they don’t have a content strategy, while more than half (56%) either don’t gather content and campaign performance insights at all, or produce reports but then don’t act on the findings.
That is according to the Marketing Experience (MX) readiness survey, developed by Intermedia Global (IMG), which evaluates how effectively an organisation’s marketing operations are functioning across several core areas. These include data and insight maturity, technology integration, campaign execution, operational efficiency and process alignment.
It also found that when it comes to delivering campaign return on investment, just over a third of marketing departments (38%) say they measure ROI on some of their campaigns but not all, while a quarter (25%) say they actually have zero visibility on ROI.
IMG chief executive Steve Kemish said: “Many teams have invested in platforms and data, but still struggle to execute campaigns efficiently and at speed. The underlying problem is that many teams still lack the integration, workflows and internal alignment needed to turn data into measurable business outcomes.”
The survey also revealed a huge gap between the best and worst performers in technology maturity, which recorded the widest spread in overall scores across any of the areas covered.
For example, nearly half (44%) say that their key martech tools (CRM, automation, analytics, DAM) work well together and would call their current setup ‘pretty good’, while a quarter (25%) say those tools in their organisation are ineffective and aren’t fit for the future.
The human element remains another significant area of potential concern for many: half of marketing teams either offer only minimal onboarding and training for marketing technology when people first join, or leave it to new users to figure it out for themselves.
Even more (56%) say that their teams understand the main features of the martech stack but underuse the advanced ones.
Kemish added: “Technology itself isn’t necessarily the problem, it’s consistency. Some businesses are moving well along their martech journeys while others are still stuck in the Stone Age. It adds to the friction that prevents their campaigns from being effective.
“Overall, the research reinforces that modern marketing success is no longer just about creativity or investment in technology. It’s about operational maturity; how effectively organisations connect their data, systems, processes, people and execution to create a stronger marketing experience.”
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