Eliminating Complexity in the Marketing Ecosystem
In many of my corporate roles, marketing was a constant exercise of doing more. Launching more channels. Onboarding more tools. Signing more partnerships. Analyzing more data. Creating more KPIs.
“More” was especially important when leadership viewed marketing as a fixer to address revenue downturns, rather than a strategic planning partner to foster long-term growth. The seemingly endless chase involved with more can be chaotic, with the risk of pulling marketing further away from the customers it’s built to serve.
Harvard Business Review recently published its research report “Eliminating Complexity for a Frictionless Marketing Experience”. The results of their November 2023 survey of over 500 marketing executives echo the fatigue around more.
In the study, 77% of respondents say that their organization faces “some” or “a lot of” complexity with its current marketing ecosystem, and only 30% rate their organization’s marketing as “very effective” today.
The complexity comes from an ever-evolving landscape of channels and tactics, marketing technology platforms, measurement tools, and privacy regulations. More than half of respondents say their marketing team feels overwhelmed by the number of channels they need to manage.
The challenge with more, particularly when it relates to using more channels to communicate with customers, is the significant content creation effort required, which can lead to fragmented messaging and measurement challenges.
How do we know when more is just too much?
What can marketers do to address the constant demand for more? The top strategic steps for survey respondents include “increasing use of data to make marketing decisions,” “updating in-house capabilities/talent,” and “updating the KPIs used to measure success.”
Breaking this down further, we recommend the following action steps to address marketing plan complexity:
Audit brand guidelines and campaign development processes; shore up foundations as needed. Are your brand and messaging guidelines clear and varied enough to suit various channels? Does your organization have a smooth creative briefing process? If these elements are causing friction, then it’s probably time to go back to basics and ensure that key foundational items, like guidelines and briefs, are clear and actionable for all stakeholders.
Keep your focus on the customer. The explosion of marketing technology tools have certainly played a role in increasing marketing ecosystem complexity. Tools are useful, but if you add too many of them or don’t use them effectively, you might be detaching your marketing initiatives from true customer needs and motivations. Not to mention you’re making things more complicated for your marketing team. Sometimes it helps to go back to basics. Conduct 1:1 interviews with your customers, if possible, or at the very least conduct a regular survey so you can keep a strong pulse on what your customers want and expect from you. Also, conduct an annual or semi-annual audit of your tech stack to ensure that tools are effective and deliver a return on investment.
Examine the customer journey to assess which channels meaningfully impact acquisition and retention. How do customers discover your brand? Where do they go to learn more and conduct research on your products/services? Which channels are effective in driving purchases? In today’s marketing landscape, it seems like brands need to be present across every channel, but that may not be necessary. If a particular channel is not impactful to the customer journey, it’s time to cut it. Channels are useless if they can’t be managed effectively.
Look for opportunities to streamline marketing KPIs. Marketing organization KPIs must be 1) connected to business objectives, and 2) measurable. This is easier said than done, of course, but start with a very focused list of marketing objectives. You may find that some of your KPIs are nice data points to have, but are not critical in tracking impact against broader revenue objectives.
Keep strategy in-house; consider outsourcing SMEs as needed. It’s easy to spread yourself thin as a marketer. When I started my career, marketing functions and teams were siloed by channel—but now most marketers are expected to possess a wide range of marketing competencies. In the HBR survey, 54% of respondents have added external agencies, consultants, and vendors to their ecosystem, but report feeling overwhelmed by the added complexity of external partnerships. If internal resources are constrained or there’s a competency gap, external resources can provide critical support. However, it’s important to define the ownership and way of working structure to ensure that relationships stay organized and productive. It’s also essential that strategic vision stems from in-house resources.
If you’re struggling with marketing ecosystem complexity, please contact us. We understand that strong marketing foundations are necessary to achieve not only external marketing excellence, but also internal org satisfaction and effectiveness.
