75% of marketers believe that top management does not value consumer marketing

It’s important for top management to recognize the value of consumer marketing and prioritize it within their overall business strategy. This can involve investing in market research, creating targeted marketing campaigns, and providing resources and support for marketing teams.

By valuing consumer marketing, businesses can better understand their customers’ needs and preferences, improve their products and services, and ultimately build stronger relationships with their target audience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, brand awareness, and revenue growth.

According to a study conducted by first-party data agency Planning-inc, 75% of senior marketing professionals in UK-based B2C brands do not feel that senior leadership values the role of customer marketing in the wider business. This lack of appreciation is hindering marketers from making a significant impact due to inoperable customer data, insufficient analyst resources, and a lack of customer insight.

The study also found that marketing teams are facing funding and resource limitations that are preventing them from carrying out their jobs effectively. Nearly half (47%) of the marketers surveyed reported that they lack the necessary resources to gain insight into customer behavior. Additionally, less than a quarter (23%) feel confident that they have a complete 360-degree view of individual customers.

Personalization has become essential for building customer loyalty and increasing retention rates in the UK, where consumer confidence is at a historic low. However, many marketers lack insight into customer behavior, which is hindering their personalization efforts. According to a survey, 43% of marketers believe that their current personalization efforts in communications are unsophisticated due to disjointed customer data.

Despite this lack of sophistication, many marketers are still sending between 11 to 25 communications per week, indicating a reliance on volume over relevancy. These communications are often based on historical data, with 81% of marketers stating that it takes four or more days to act on insights to optimize their campaigns.

However, the survey findings suggest that marketers do not have access to the right information about their customers, limiting their ability to develop effective customer marketing campaigns.

But with the right tools and insights, marketers can make significant gains in external communication efforts, which can directly impact the bottom line. This, in turn, can increase senior visibility and engagement, demonstrating the value of personalization efforts and building internal relationships.