85% of Marketers Agree that Data Analytics and Insight Generation are Growing in Importance to their Position

The role of the marketer is constantly evolving, and new research suggests that data and analytics are becoming more critical to professionals in the position at their respective companies.

The World Federation of Advertisers recently published its report titled, “The CMO Conundrum and the Search for the Unicorn Marketer 2020,” which examined responses from 683 leading marketers from around the globe. Statistics suggest that the top skill for marketers today (88%) is having a general understanding of the industry. That being said, 85% agreed that a high level of data analytics and insight generation are important for professionals currently working in marketing as well.

Other areas that are considered to be critical skills for today’s marketers include digital marketing (87%), cultural sensitivity (80%) and business acumen (78%).

Leveraging Accurate Data for Marketing Purposes

In order for marketers to make the most of data and analytics, accuracy is imperative. However, previous research suggests that they do not always have the “cleanest” data to utilize on an as-needed basis.

Experian recently conducted its “2020 Global Data Management Research” report, which showed that 51% of marketers consider the current state of their CRM data to be “clean” and fully leverageable. That being said, 28% of existing customer/prospect data is considered to be inaccurate in some way, according to the surveyed marketers.

“That level of inaccuracy affects the organization in a broad number of ways,” wrote the authors of the report. “Organizations see traditional issues like wasted resources and an inability to rely on analytics. However, it also affects the organization in terms of its key initiatives. Poor data negatively impacts the customer experience and the success of new data-driven programs.”