When I first started as Drift’s CMO late last year, a few things were top of mind for me: Meet the team and learn about their goals, align those goals with sales and reach out to the larger Drift and marketing community.
As part of that community outreach, I wanted to get a sense of what other marketing leaders in the community were facing: What challenges were they coming up against? What do their teams look like? What technologies and trends were they betting on?
At the time, I had no idea that in a few short months, the world would be in a very different place due to COVID-19 and our new WFH realities. But, to my surprise, the answers we received couldn’t be more timely.
In this time of uncertainty, marketers need to lean on one another for best practices and support. And there was one thing almost all respondents agreed on: When you pull away the layers, people are the key to marketing’s success.
There was one quote from the survey, in particular, that struck me ?
Empathy isn’t a word you hear a lot in marketing. But now, it’s all I and many other CMOs can talk about. How can we approach the customer and employee experience with greater empathy?
People have always been the foundation of a great marketing team.
The data from the report shows that: 62% of marketing leaders said a “lack of talent bandwidth to execute on goals & objectives” was the greatest challenge facing their teams.
And only 25% of these same respondents were confident their martech would help them reach their goals.
People, more than tech, are driving the future of marketing.
In my next newsletter, I’ll be talking more about empathy and the future of marketing. (That edition launches on April 19th, so feel free to subscribe here.)
In the meantime: a BIG thank you to everyone who responded to our survey this year! We’re hoping to continue this each year, and your input adds a ton of value.
You can view all of the key insights from the 2020 Marketing Leadership Benchmark Report (I just scratched the surface) here or by clicking the image below.
