“We’ve got to do more with less.” Marketers are no stranger to this phrase – and know better than most that it’s far easier than said with done.
At least that’s been the assumption. But as economic headwinds shift and marketers are once again tasked with making budgets stretch, new data reveals that marketing teams have a unique opportunity to rethink strategy, overcome old challenges, and yes, achieve more with less. All it takes is an understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and where you need to invest next. Let’s jump in.
What Are the Top Marketing Challenges Right Now?
First, take a moment to understand the current marketing landscape. Data from the latest MarTech report shows that marketing teams everywhere share similar struggles:
- 23% of marketers find it challenging to achieve internal alignment across initiatives and departments
- 17% of marketers struggle to differentiate themselves from the competition
- 15% of marketers experience challenges driving demand
- 7% of marketers find it difficult to measure program performance
These stats reveal that across marketing teams some of the biggest challenges are actually internal – whether that’s aligning with fellow go-to-market teams or refining messaging to stand out from the competition. In many ways, this is a good problem to have: while you may not be able to shift global markets, you can streamline your internal operations and optimize programs based on performance. Focussing on what you can control is an important part of finding success in uncertain times.
What Tactics Currently Drive Leads?
We know what’s not working. But where should you double down on your current marketing strategy? When it comes to driving leads, MarTech reveals which tactics are still successful:
- 56% of marketers found digital advertising to be successful
- 50% of marketers found content marketing to be successful
- 48% of marketers found SEO to be successful
- 26% of marketers found field marketing and events to be successful
- 16% of marketers found gifting/direct mail to be successful
What does this data tell us? You can infer that digital-first tactics – content marketing, digital advertising, SEO – still reign supreme in a post-pandemic world. Approaches that rely on in-person or physical elements may not yield the results they once did. Does that mean you should abandon them? Of course not; these are still a part of a balanced strategy. But when it comes to deepening your investment, your best bet is to go digital.
What Are Your Next Steps?
Now let’s take a look at how you can put these tactics into play to overcome the challenges we discussed earlier.
1. Strengthen sales, enablement, and marketing alignment
Alignment is listed as the top marketing challenge in the Market Intelligence Report on Sales Enablement. And while tensions between teams are almost cliché at this point, it is a real problem and one that is worth solving. Why? In the absence of tight alignment, the state of sales is more fraught than ever – take a look at the data below.
- 70% of sales content goes unused
- 87% of sales training is forgotten after a month
- 57% of sales representatives miss their quota
It’s clear that resolving alignment issues is paramount for any team looking to succeed, whether you’re a content marketer that needs reps to use your sales assets, a product marketing manager who wants to land new messaging via training, or a chief marketing officer who is beholden to a number each quarter. As you implement the following best practices to optimize your marketing for the months to come, one thing is for certain: you must bring sales and enablement along for the journey. These teams – and your bottom line – will thank you.
2. Leverage enablement technology to take control
The data showed us that content marketing is a powerful tool for driving revenue. But also revealed to us that marketers still struggle with differentiation, demand generation, and measuring program performance. Can the former help resolve the latter?
It can if you invest in a sales enablement platform. Don’t let the name fool you: sales enablement platforms are a core part of any modern marketing tech stack. Why? Because these platforms are how you distribute, measure, and optimize content for your sales and buyer audiences.
The ability to tie specific content assets back to influenced revenue allows you to understand how your competitive messaging resonated with buyers, pinpoint which assets effectively filled your demand pipeline, and overall report on content marketing impact. It couldn’t be clearer: if you’re placing bets on content marketing, you’ll double your odds by investing in a sales enablement platform, too.
3. Keep an eye focused on what’s next
Sixty-three percent of marketers say they are under extreme pressure to drive revenue growth. A figure like that can be stressful but it doesn’t have to be. The expectation to grow can easily be managed if you know what the next phase of growth requires of you and your marketing strategy.
Luckily, you don’t need future-vision to figure out what that looks like for your team. You can start by taking our maturity assessment, which will help you understand how your current operations and processes stack up against those of highly effective teams. From there, we’ll provide you with the resources you need to move upwards, ensuring you have the operational systems and strategies in place to help you scale your marketing efforts and grow your business.
What Are Your Next Steps?
Slimmer budgets can drive growth – as long as you invest them wisely. Get a head. start on rethinking your marketing strategy for today’s challenges and opportunities with the full report, How Marketing Can Rise Above Economic Uncertainty from MarTech.
