Marketing Skills Gap Research Study

Marketing Skills Gap
April 2012
Craig Rosenberg, @funnelholic
Carlos Hidalgo, @cahidalgo
Matt Heinz, @heinzmarketing
Elle Woulfe @ellehwoulfe
Terry Flaherty @TFlaherty

Methodology

 Objective
• To understand the gap between an organization’s marketing
capabilities and the training it needs to achieve its goals

 Parameters
• This data was collected via email surveys sent to marketers between
March 1 - March 28, 2012

• More than 450 marketers completed the survey

© 2012 Focus, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2

Executive Summary

B2B Marketers still have a long way to go in order to gain the skills
necessary to succeed and excel in today’s business environment. Among
the many findings in the study, the research revealed some of the following
from our respondents:

 70% either receive no training or are self-taught

 Less than 50% receive any kind of regular formal training

 Over 65% spend less than $1,000 per year in developing marketing skills

 Over 50% stated there is no plan to address the training or they
encourage their marketing personnel to acquire the skills on their own time


Executive Summary

The role of B2B marketing has never been more important due to the
change in the B2B buyer and the need to impact revenue. Yet, many
marketers are struggling to acquire the right skills in order to do their jobs
effectively. This study reveals the impact that these lack of skills are having
on revenue, the sales and marketing alignment gap, and how little these
organizations are doing to change the dynamic within their organizations.


Respondent profile

How many people are in your
marketing organization?

18%
1-5
6-9
13%
10-20
57%
21+ What is the annual revenue of your
12%
company?

$501M+ 16%
$251M - $500M 4%
$101M-$250M 6%
$51M-$100M 5%
$26M-$50M 5%
$1M-25M 32%
Less than $1M 31%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%


Less than 20% of marketers rate
themselves as “highly effective”
How would you rate the overall skill and effectiveness of your marketing
organization in terms of creating demand and contributing to revenue?

Somewhat effective 63%

Not at all effective 14%

Marketing is not looked to for demand generation & revenue 6%

Highly effective 18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%


Demand generation strategy matters most

Which skills in your marketing personnel are most important to contributing
to revenue? (Choose up to 3)

Other 3%

Knowledge of social media 8%

Ability to staff appropriately 5%

Properly operating our marketing automation/marketing technology 9%

Developing measurements and metrics 13%

Development of process – sales funnel management 17%

Demand generation strategy and execution 23%

Content marketing 22%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%


There’s not a clear consensus on the
source of the skills gap
Which skills are most lacking in your marketing personnel? (Choose up to 3)

Other 3%

Knowledge of social media 12%

Ability to staff appropriately 10%

Properly operating our marketing automation/marketing technology 15%

Developing measurements and metrics 15%

Development of process – funnel management 15%

Demand generation strategy and execution 14%


0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%


74% of respondents believe lack of skills
affects sales-marketing misalignment
Does the lack of skills contribute to marketing and sales misalignment?

It somewhat affects lack of alignment 50%

It significantly contributes lack of alignment 24%

It doesn’t affect lack of alignment 13%

Have no way of knowing 13%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%


Most marketers are forced to “figure it
out” themselves
Where does your marketing personnel get their skills training?

We do not currently get skills training

Self-taught through reading blogs, books and on the job learning

Online educational programs

Live events/workshops (Example: MarketingProfs, DemandCon)

From our marketing vendors

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%


Organizations are not investing in skills
training
How often does marketing personnel receive formal training or educational
skills development?

We do not receive training 38%

Training is formal but on an ad-hoc basis

Once per year

Once per quarter

Once every 6-months

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%


46% of all respondents spend less than
$500/year on formal training
Annual marketing budget broken out by size of marketing
department
60%

50%

40%

1-5
30%
6-9
10-20
20%
21+

10%

0%
$1-$500 per year $501- $1,000 per year $1,001 - $2,000 per $2,001 - $5,000 per $5,001 + per year
year year

 This percentage is still extremely high for companies with large marketing
organizations


Only 21% of respondents plan to address
the skills gap with formal training
How do you plan to close the gap between needed skills and current
capabilities?

We are not addressing the gap this year 25%

Encourage employees to acquire new skills on their own time 24%

Supplement internal skills with outside partners 30%

Invest in formal training 21%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%


Respondents want to tackle demand
generation training first
What education would be most helpful to improve marketing?

Social media 9%

Other 5%

Metrics and benchmarking 10%

Marketing operations 6%

Lead management and funnel management 13%

Education on the changing buyer & Buyer 2.0 purchase approach 5%

Creation and execution of a demand generation strategy 24%

Better education on how to use marketing automation/marketing
17%
technology

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

 This is consistent with respondents previously stating that demand gen is most
important to contributing to revenue


75% of respondents believe that the
marketing skills gap impacts revenue
Is the lack of marketing skills impacting revenue?

It somewhat affects revenue 51%

It significantly affects revenue 24%

It doesn’t affect revenue

Have no way of knowing

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%


What’s next

 Discussion

 Customer examples

 Recommendations

 Q&A


Marketing Skills Gap Research Study

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