• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 8, 2014

According to a recent study by Adobe Systems, marketers know they must reinvent themselves, but don’t know how. 64% of marketers expect their role to change in the next year and 81% in the next 3 years. While 40% of marketers surveyed stated that they wanted to reinvent themselves, only 14% of those marketers actually know how to go about it, concludes the report. Lack of training in new marketing skills and organizational inability to adapt are cited as key obstacles to becoming the marketers they aspire to be.

Information in the study is broken out by companies with below average or average business performance… had performed similarly to key competitors or had recorded lower sales or revenue than key competitors vs. companies with superior business performance… had out-performed key competitors in terms of sales or revenue. And, companies where digital spend was more than 25% of total marketing budget, vs. companies where digital spend was less than 10% of their total marketing budget.

40% of marketers say “I want to reinvent or redefine my role as a marketer,” though only 14% say “I know exactly how to do it.” Of those who want to change, 44% are from a high digital spending company, and 33% from low. Companies with high digital spend are more likely to believe that marketers need to reinvent themselves:

The changing role of marketers is driven by increased channels and platforms and new technologies, says the report. Respondents report some of the driving forces behind the change in the role of marketers.  

Driving Forces For Change In Next 12 Months (% of Respondents)

• Expanded number of channels and platforms to reach audiences   73%
• New ways of thinking about audience engagement   71%
• New technologies for analyzing marketing effectiveness   71%
• Challenge of 'breaking through the noise' to reach target audiences   61%
• The pace of change   50%
• New responsibilities for the marketing function   44%
• Increased recognition of marketing's contribution to business success   40%

Beyond the issues of budget and resource constraints, marketers cite lack of training in new skills and organizations’ inability to adapt as key obstacles to becoming the aspired marketer.

Marketers, recognizing that their personal approach to marketing may have changed over the last 12 months, express their agreement to the understanding of the importance of using Big Data (Multiple Choice OK)

Marketers, from both high and low digital spending companies, record their perceived marketing tactics as most critical areas a year from now.

Finally, marketers express their opinions on what will be most important to their company’s marketing moving forward.(% of Respondents)

Summary of Top Findings:

• Sixty-four percent of marketers expect their role to change in the next year; 81% in the next 3 years.
• While 40% marketers surveyed stated that they wanted to reinvent themselves, only 14% of those marketers actually know how to go about it.
• Lack of training in new marketing skills (30%) and organizational inability to adapt (30%) are cited as key obstacles to becoming the marketers they aspire to be.
• 54% of marketers believe the ideal marketer should take more risks and 45% hope to take more risks themselves.
• 65% of marketers say they are more comfortable adopting new technologies once they become mainstream.
• Marketers cite digital/social marketers (47%), data analysts (38%), creatives (38%) and mobile marketers (36%) as the key roles companies need to invest in over the next 12 months.
• Marketers recognize the importance of data, but aren’t widely using it to make informed decisions.
• 76% of marketers (76%) agree they need to be more data-focused to succeed.
• Forty-nine percent of marketers report “trusting my gut” to guide decisions on where to invest their marketing budgets.
• 72% of marketers agree that long-term success at their company is tied to proving marketing return on investment.
• 161% of marketers see social media as the most critical marketing vehicle to focus on a year from now, followed closely by mobile at 51%.

According to the report, the online survey was among a total of 1,004 U.S. marketers with data collected February 19-27, 2014 by ResearchNow. The margin of error at the 95% confidence level for the total sample is +/- 3.1%

For additional information from Adobe, and the PDF survey file, please visit here.