Biggest Challenges in Marketing and How to Solve Them

marketing-challenge

Customer expectations, technologies, and global markets are rapidly changing, which poses pressure on how we should approach marketing. Although marketing is a fast-evolving discipline, some companies are still experiencing difficulty keeping up with managing the executive’s expectations.  

Traditional marketing taught marketers critical thinking skills, but what about managing every request that comes in or measuring your effort’s ROI? 

To give you a clear picture, let’s dive into the most prominent challenges marketing operations is facing today. As well as some tips on how to overcome them using transformation in capability and charge.  

High pressure on keeping everything together  

Project management is essential in marketing. Especially when you’re handling a team. It’s similar to solving a puzzle. You’re always trying to figure out which piece fits together—managing timelines, workloads, and campaigns. Sometimes, it can get overwhelming and feel like you’re missing a part, and you’d paddle behind the scenes to stay afloat.  

So, what’s the solution? Implement and standardize a project management model. Here are project management models you can start implementing right now: 

Agile Project Management  

Agile Project Management was created for software development projects, but it also applies to marketing for managing projects.   

It involves starting with a vision and then breaking it down into bite-sized pieces called “sprints” to make it more manageable. During this step, the team is tasked to identify how long each sprint will take to complete. Once the sprints are established, production starts. And during production, there is a dashboard that is visible to every team member to keep everyone updated on how each sprint is doing. Once the project is finished, a meeting is held to see what went well and what could be improved for future projects.  

To wrap up, Agile Project Management is a flexible and collaborative way to complete one task at a time as efficiently as possible. These can effectively eliminate failures since issues are addressed in real-time.  

Waterfall Methodology  

The Waterfall Methodology is opposite to the Agile Methodology. It is straightforward and more sequential than an iterative loop approach. No phase begins until the prior stage is final. Should there be changes to the previous step, you have to start again—meaning you cannot alter or return to an earlier phase.  

Limited time and tight deadlines  

Marketing consists of endless communication—constant status updates, meetings to keep everyone in the loop, and more to track the progress of every project. These can become overwhelming, especially for small teams.   

Here are some tips to get more time in your team’s day:  

  • Use templates to centralize your workflows: Create workflow templates for each project to save your team time. Add all the tasks that need to be completed. Assign it to each individual in your team—set deadlines based on the number of days before it will be published.  
  • Block off time in your calendar to get things done: Turn off all distractions and devote strict time to focus on the task at hand.   
  • Keep everyone in the loop: Be transparent and tell your team what you’re working on.   

Measuring KPIs  

There’s a misconception in marketing that you have to measure everything. Marketing analytics can be overwhelming. There are various metrics you can measure but remember that not every metric should add business value. Understanding what’s working and what’s not working is an imperative part of your marketing’s growth strategy.   

Here are some tips to help you find the right metric:  

  • Ask yourself, “what is your goal?”: Identifying your goals will help you identify the metric you need to measure. For example, you want to see how effective your email marketing efforts are, then metrics you can track are click-through rate, open rate, and conversion rate.  
  • Define your target: Identifying your target audience gives you a clearer understanding of which channel KPI should be measured.  

Marketing plans take forever  

Let’s be real, marketing plans take up a lot of time and promote blind execution. Marketing plans spell out all the activities you’re going to do—publishing blogs, pushing ad campaigns, and more, but these activities don’t equal results.  

Here’s a formula to replace marketing plans and help you optimize results:  

  • Focus on a metric that matters: One metric can accelerate your business growth.  
  • Have a specific goal: Be dead-set on the driver that influenced the success of your metric.  
  • Define a clear timeline: Set achievable deadlines on when your plan can become a reality.  

Creating a Clear Marketing Approach  

With the fragmentation of marketing options, the dynamics of using various technologies and the proliferation of marketing technologies uncover more roadblocks and complexity. Marketing needs a straightforward approach to what effort you need to put your focus on. Consider consulting a certified expert to get your head in the game and focus on core things that will add value to your business.  

Final Thoughts  

There are multiple alternative solutions to these challenges. The above resolutions are just a few. Now that you have tips on how to organize the mess, it’s time to take action. If you’re looking for certified professionals to handle your marketing operations, schedule a meeting today

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