Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively and Drive Value

Chapter 2

Why Is Marketing Antiquated?

External forces, like the digital disruption I discussed in Chapter 1, aren't the only factors keeping marketers in the Dark Ages. When I talk to marketers one on one or speak with a roomful of business executives, I also hear about a wide range of internal obstacles that prevent companies from leveraging big data insights and developing more personal customer engagement strategies.

Though the details can vary widely, the most common challenges these organizations face include: a lack of collaboration across departments, mercurial market and consumer behaviors, turf wars over customer data ownership, ad hoc processes, declining or stagnant budgets, overspecialized functions, and proliferating channels. These problems are spun from years of ever-changing marketing leadership and a shift in buying practices caused by a variety of factors, most notably, the Internet, mobile devices, social networks, and a global marketplace that is now always on and constantly connected.

Why has marketing lost pace to these challenges? Because in many instances, marketers are unable to clear at least one (and usually more) of these six stubborn hurdles:

• Tactical (versus strategic) marketing
• Manual marketing management
• Silos of data and demand for real-time engagement
• Communicating the value of marketing
• Lack of talent/training
• Fragmented and often missing data

Let's discuss each of these hurdles so you can better understand why it's so difficult for marketing ...