消除复杂性，实现无摩擦的营销体验

Sponsored by Let’s Hear It for Smart Marketing For marketers, it’s easy to look at today’s business and politicalclimate and see nothing but worries. Disruptive technologies, sweepinggenerational shifts, endless policy debates, and international tensions allcombine to suggest a world in a state of constant disruption. “Strugglingfor oxygen” is how one marketer described it in an interview with HarvardBusiness Review Analytic Services for this report. Josh GoldenChief Marketing OfficerQuad Yet the next few years also have the potential to become something else—what I like to call the Era of the Smart Marketer. Against all the uncertainties, marketers are increasingly asking…whatreally matters?That much is evident in the contours of this report.Marketers are recognizing that today’s marketing ecosystem can be“muddled, disjointed, and overcomplicated,” as Harvard Business ReviewAnalytic Services puts it, creating mounting strategic and operationalchallenges. And acknowledging the issues sets the stage for addressingthem: the survey shows that two of every five marketers describe theircollection of marketing processes as “not very streamlined.” No wonder,then, that only 30% of respondents in the survey rate their organization’smarketing as “very effective” and more than half say their teams areoverwhelmed by the number of channels they have to manage. In response, Smart Marketers are strengthening their resilience to ride theups and downs and make the most of the opportunities (aka disruptions)that keep coming our way. These range from leveraging artificialintelligence and data-driven personalization to overcoming the bewilderingchannel fragmentation highlighted in this report. To build that resilience, as this report shows, marketers are focusing ona range of strategic imperatives. About half of the survey respondents(48%) say they are working to develop new in-house marketing capabilitiesand talent, and over half (59%) are increasing use of data to makemarketing decisions. Roughly two in five say they are updating their toolsand solutions (44%), updating KPIs for measuring success (46%), anddeveloping greater visibility into performance across channels (also 44%). And here’s the good news: This report shows that improved efficiencyand streamlined processes get results and lead to happier marketingteams. More than half (54%) draw a direct line between their streamlinedmarketing process and the ability to respond to the market withgreater speed and agility. Other benefits include better customerengagement, better utilization of data and, most important of all, greatercampaign impact. With proof points like these, today’s Smart Marketers are pointed towarda better way. Using chutzpah to strengthen our brand voices and take astand against inefficiency will lead us to a better future for our craft. Eliminating Complexity for aFrictionless Marketing Experience Modern marketing is more than an amalgam of mediachannels and digital technologies. When executedproperly, marketing has the power to provoke meaningfulthought, shape megatrends, move global markets,and significantly influence public perception. From acorporate perspective, marketing is no less powerful—an engine that fuels revenue growth and profitabilityby attracting consumers and securing lifelongloyalty to a brand. H I G H L I G H T S 89%of survey respondents sayit’smore important than everthat marketing play a strategicrolewithin organizations. 77%of respondents say theirorganizationfaces “some” or“a lot of” complexity within itscurrent marketing ecosystem,and 66% sayrising complexityin the marketplace is makingit increasingly difficultformarketers to deliver businessvalue to the organization. In fact, a November 2023 survey conducted by Harvard Business ReviewAnalytic Services of 527 executives who are involved in marketing decisionsshows that 89% say it’s more important than ever that marketing play a strategicrole within organizations. Yet only 30% of respondents rate their organization’smarketing as “very effective” today, signaling a missed opportunity to gleansustainable business value from marketing initiatives. 30%of respondentsrate theirorganization’s marketingas “very effective”today,signaling amissed opportunityto glean sustainable businessvalue from marketing. A number of key factors are negatively impacting marketing operations today.These variables include macroeconomic trends, cited by 73% of respondentsas having a significant or moderate negative impact, followed by increasedoperational costs (66%) and shifting consumer behaviors (65%). But whileno business function is immune to elevated interest rates and economicuncertainty, marketers are faced with a unique challenge: how to manage anexplosion of marketing technologies and ever-widening network of partners,from content marketing agencies to influencers. Together, these elements are adding layers of complexity that make itmore challenging than ever for marketers to per