1)
They keep on talking about brand, brand values, brand equity and other similar parameters that their top management has great difficulties linking back to results that really matter: revenue, sales, EBIT or even market valuation (77%)
2)
They focus too much on the latest marketing trends such as social media, because they believe they represent the new marketing frontiers – but can rarely demonstrate how these trends will help them generate more business for the company (74%)
3)
When asked to increase their Marketing ROI, they tend to understand it as cost cutting through better economies of scale or negotiations with their third-party partners and agencies, instead of top-line growth generation: more revenue, more sales, more prospects, more buyers (73%)
4)
They are always asking for more money, but can rarely explain how much incremental business this money will generate (72%)
5)
They bombard their stakeholders with marketing data that hardly relate to or mean anything for the company's P&L (70%)
6)
Unlike CFOs and Sales Forces, they don't think enough like businesspeople: they focus too much on the creative, "arty" and "fluffy" side of marketing and not enough on its business science, and rely too much on their ad agencies to come up with the next big idea (67%)
7)
They are focused on the latest marketing technologies (such as marketing automation, lead management and CRM) but are still failing to deliver (and prove they deliver) the level of incremental customer demand expected of them (66%)