• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 29, 2013

Four in 10 marketing executives feel unprepared to meet campaign objectives, citing a lack of funding and inefficient business practices as the main impediments to improved performance.

The Accenture Interactive research, Turbulence for the CMO, points to the need for marketers to have a stronger commitment to digital marketing and analytics before they can tackle an increasingly complex environment of multiple channels and devices.

Some 70% of the executives surveyed believe corporate marketing will undergo a dramatic overhaul in the next five years, and their organizations must create a digital direction that will help them achieve higher revenue and increased market share.

Some 65% of marketing executives agree that consumers' expectation for relevant experiences have an impact on marketing strategies, and 40% see flat or declining market share.

Seven in 10 CMOs believe marketing will change fundamentally in the next five years, according to the findings. Based on the 2012 Accenture Interactive CMO Insights survey of more than 400 senior marketers from 10 countries, CMOs need to change the marketing operating model, build new skills internally, get the right set of partners, and drive digital orientation throughout the enterprise.

CMOs are taking steps to close the gap in digital performance. The survey results show 66% of marketing executives plan to allocate at least one-quarter of their budget to digital marketing, and nearly 23% said more than half of their spend will go toward digital marketing. The survey shows that marketing executives also plan to invest more in their analytics capabilities. Nearly 48% admit they will spend more on managing customer data, 40% will increase budget spend on Web analytics, and 39% will spend more on marketing analytics.

Some 55% of marketing executives said they were satisfied with the level of collaboration with their outside agencies, but a disconnect remains between expectations and results. Only 36% of marketing executives said their agencies execute flawlessly, and 36% said the agencies are not able to deliver what they promised.

Only 44% said agency partners help marketing executives transform their marketing organization, which is a clear goal for marketing executives in 2013.

The study suggests that improving collaboration between business units can help them achieve their targets. Some 19% said inefficient business practices currently hinder their ability to improve marketing performance and return on investment, while 17% said a lack of funding hurts these efforts.