Why Is the Marketing Execution Gap Impacting Your Brand?
In an era of rapidly evolving digital marketing, brands must address the Marketing Execution Gap. This gap emerges as the need for personalised and relevant content increases while resources and budgets remain stagnant. To bridge this widening gap, the key to success lies in embracing innovation and transformative technological resources, such as Creative Automation.
Gone are the days of Mad Men “eureka” moments based on one line of impactful copy or one striking visual, distributed to a limited number of channels (think broadcast television and billboards). One size no longer fits all in a digital age which moves at an incredible pace. As this McKinsey report shows, companies who invest in their personalisation efforts generate faster rates of revenue growth. This puts a lot of pressure on the digital creative designers who cannot keep up with that level of demand. The Marketing Execution Gap is illustrated below – it shows how budgets and resources are not growing according to the content demands.
Illustration of the Marketing Execution Gap
The Marketing Execution Gap occurs when the demand for personalised and relevant content increases while budgets and resources stay the same.
Causes include new ad channels and formats, complex global marketing workflows and ad fatigue.
Designers and creative teams face immense pressure to deliver high volumes of content while avoiding over-straining their resources.
What causes the marketing execution gap?
The increasing number of new ad channels and formats
The rise of platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram has created new content format requirements for marketers. Adapting to these formats involves not just creativity but also resources to develop and maintain consistent brand messaging on every channel.
Complex global marketing workflows
As brands expand globally, marketing workflows become more challenging due to increased distances and cultural differences having an impact on collaboration. Technology can facilitate the localisation and personalisation of content, even across these dispersed workforces. By introducing Creative Automation into your workflows, you can gain huge efficiencies by centralising content production, delivery and optimisation.
Ad fatigue
The lack of personalised and localised content can lead to ad fatigue which is when consumers become disinterested and unresponsive to advertisements. This not only affects potential customers but can negatively impact ad platform performance. In fact, a report by Simulmedia states that users who were over saturated with the same ad (saw the ad 6-10 times) were 4.1% less likely to buy a product.
Constantly testing content and rotating ad creatives based on the results is one resolution to this. But what are other advertising agencies and marketing teams doing now to prevent the gap deepening?
Strategies for closing the Execution Gap
Brands are employing diverse methods to address the Marketing Execution Gap. For example, outsourcing, increasing headcount or relying heavily on creative teams. However, many of these strategies are short-term solutions that may not prove sustainable.
1. Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration
Encourage collaboration and foster a culture of cross-functional teamwork within your organization. Break down silos by promoting regular communication and knowledge sharing between departments. By aligning goals and working collaboratively, you can ensure the seamless execution of your marketing strategies.
2. Develop a Comprehensive Marketing Plan
Create a detailed and well-defined marketing plan that encompasses all aspects of your brand's objectives and target audience. Your plan should outline clear goals, strategies, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. Regularly review and refine your plan to adapt to changing market dynamics and emerging trends.
3. Leverage Advanced Marketing Tools
Invest in advanced marketing tools and technologies that can streamline your execution processes and enhance efficiency. Automation, data analytics, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems can significantly improve the execution of your marketing strategies. These tools can help you automate repetitive tasks, gather valuable insights, and optimize your campaigns for better results.
4. Cultivate a Data-Driven Approach
Embrace a data-driven approach to decision-making by analyzing key metrics and consumer behavior. Utilize analytics tools to track website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement. These insights will allow you to identify patterns, make data-backed decisions, and continuously optimize your marketing efforts.
5. Invest in Professional Expertise
Consider partnering with experienced marketing professionals or hiring a dedicated team to support your marketing execution. Skilled experts can provide valuable insights, develop effective strategies, and ensure the successful implementation of your marketing initiatives. Their expertise and industry knowledge can help you navigate challenges, optimize your campaigns, and ultimately outrank other websites in your niche.
6. Embrace Agile Methodologies
Adopt agile methodologies in your marketing execution process. Agile allows for flexibility, adaptability, and quick decision-making, enabling you to respond rapidly to market changes and implement strategies efficiently. Embracing agile principles empowers your team to iterate, test, and refine marketing campaigns, ensuring better results and continuous improvement.
7. Prioritize Content Quality and Relevance
Creating high-quality, relevant content is paramount to outranking your competitors. Develop a content strategy that focuses on providing value to your target audience. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that align with your target market's search intent. Craft compelling, well-optimized content that addresses their needs and positions your brand as an authoritative source in your industry.
8. Optimize for Search Engines
Implementing search engine optimization (SEO) best practices is crucial for outranking other websites. Optimize your website structure, meta tags, headings, and content to ensure search engines can easily crawl and index your pages. Conduct comprehensive keyword research and strategically incorporate relevant keywords into your content, title tags, and meta descriptions. Focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable sources to enhance your website's authority and visibility.
9. Leverage Social Media Marketing
Utilize social media platforms to amplify your brand's reach and engagement. Develop a social media strategy that aligns with your marketing goals and target audience. Regularly share engaging, shareable content that encourages interaction, and leverage social media advertising to expand your brand's visibility. Engage with your audience, respond to comments, and build a strong online community around your brand.
10. Monitor, Analyze, and Adapt
Regularly monitor and analyze the performance of your marketing campaigns. Utilize web analytics tools to track key metrics, such as website traffic, conversion rates, and user behavior. Analyze the data to gain insights into what's working and what can be improved. Make data-driven decisions and adapt your strategies accordingly to optimize your marketing execution and maintain a competitive edge.
Creative Automation and ad optimisation
With Creative Automation, many video ad versions are rendered in bulk at an accelerated rate. By pushing these versions directly to publishing platforms, ad channels, and Digital Asset Management platforms (DAMs), best-performing creative assets can be quickly identified.
Therefore, an execution benefit that Creative Automation also enables is that of Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO). Real-time decisions can be made about what ad creative to serve based on analysis of a significant number of variations.
Key Takeaways
Conventional solutions to closing the Marketing Execution Gap are unsustainable and may lead to increased costs.
Creative Automation provides a long-term, transformative solution to scaling creative asset production and addressing the growing content demands.
Creative Automation can help alleviate petty manual work and return time for real creativity. Marketers, when armed with a new resource for scaling their content, are less dependent on designers for the variations they need. They now also have more time to focus on high level strategic activities to increase revenue.
With marketing and creative teams both reaching their targets, in a timely and cost-effective manner, Creative Automation can fill the marketing execution gap and truly create sustainable transformation.
