We’ve all heard it: The future of marketing is digital. Get on board or get left behind. So what’s holding marketers back? We surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. marketers to explore how they’re evolving in the digital age, where they need help and what their priorities are going forward. Here are some quick stats on their thoughts.

1. 65%
Marketers struggle to reinvent themselves.
Marketers expect their roles to
change quickly—and change won't stop.
Companies need more digital talent.
Companies are doing significantly more
digital marketing than last year.
Personalization, social, and mobile
are increasing in importance.
33% of marketers believe that personalization is most
important to their company’s marketing moving forward
% of companies increasing above activities over last year
The bottom line: Future marketers
need to take more risks.
65% of marketers say they are more
comfortable adopting new technologies
once they become mainstream
54% of marketers believe the ideal marketer
should take more risks; 45% hope to take
more risks themselves
DIGITAL ROADBLOCK:
21% of marketers believe it’s social
64% 81%
Will your role
change in the next
12 months?
Will your role
change in the next
3 years?
YesYes
21%
33%
11% of marketers believe it’s mobile
11%
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adobe.com/go/digitalroadblock
40% of marketers want to
reinvent themselves
40% 14%
Barriers to change:
30% don’t have the training,
30% cite organizational inability to adapt
30%
Only 14% of those
marketers know how
Social marketing-
creating communities
on social media
*
63%
Direct customer
engagement
through email
*
51%
Digital
data analytics
*
51%
Digital ads
such as display
advertising
*
46%
Creating
mobile apps &
campaigns
*
44%
36%
36% are searching for
mobile marketers
47%
47% need digital and
social marketers
38% need more
creative services
38% 38%
38% want
data analysts
45%
54%