Marketers need to get better at linking creativity to business metrics

Ninety-two percent of marketers can find it difficult to tie creativity to commercial return – a shocking statistic which puts the industry at a major disadvantage when it comes to making the case to the board for continued investment in difficult economic times.

That’s one of the major findings in a new report* from LIONS, WARC and The Effectiveness Partnership outlining global marketers’ perceptions of the challenges facing the marketing industry today.

Why it matters

Marketers face a whole range of challenges which make strategic planning more challenging and investment decisions more risky. Some are global and inexorable, but others are within the power of marketers to do something about – IF they know how to do it, and if they have the necessary resources and support.

Key findings 

• Eighty percent of marketers see five major challenges to developing strategy: economic uncertainty, new developments in tech and AI, marketing effectiveness, budgets and resources, and talent management. 
• These put multifaceted pressure on marketers’ technical, organisational, diplomatic and persuasion skills.
• Over 80% struggle to evaluate vast quantities of incompatible data, which makes it hard to prepare and present a coherent business case.
• Channel usage is strongly linked with the ability to calculate ROI, presenting an opportunity to expand the role of measurement.

The big idea 

By embracing the opportunities of today’s technologies, by expanding the scope and competence of the focus on measurement, and by instilling a culture of effectiveness throughout organisations, marketing can help turn the biggest of challenges into the greatest of opportunities.

*The Marketing Challenges 2023 report is based on responses from 187 senior marketers (50% at CMO level or equivalent) in brand-owner organisations across seven marketing sectors around the world.