Study: Honing Data Skills A Low Priority For B2B Marketing Teams

Published: June 14, 2016

Recent findings from a study conducted by Openprise, a data automation solution provider, show that there is disparity in how data skills are valued within B2B organizations. While more than a third of respondents (34%) state that gaps in data skills are a top challenge within their organization, only 10% state that honing their data skills is a top priority for their marketing teams.

The 2016 State of B2B Marketing Data Management Report surveyed roughly 180 marketing professionals in an effort to identify trends and best practices for data management within B2B organizations.

When asked to describe the success of their marketing data management strategies, more than half (51%) of respondents noted that their strategies are “somewhat successful.” Forty percent of respondents also noted that their strategies are either “somewhat” or “very” unsuccessful. Only 10% consider their marketing data management strategy best-in-class.

Other findings from the report include:

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  • The biggest challenges to marketing data management success are poor data use and accessibility (54%), poor data quality (44%) and lack of ROI measurability (40%);
  • While nearly all (96%) of B2B organizations agree that the effective use of marketing data is increasing, for the majority (57%) it’s improving only marginally; and
  • Despite the market attention on predictive analytics and account-based marketing (ABM), 62% of respondents believe their most effective application of marketing data is still basic campaign targeting, followed by content personalization (51%).

“While marketers realize the importance of data, they often lack the skills to manage it properly,” said Ed King, CEO of Openprise, in an interview with Demand Gen Report. “Worse yet, most don’t have the time to learn those skills. But there’s more than one way to solve the problem. Either look for an easy-to-use data automation solution that directly addresses the headaches, or engage with an agency that has the technical know-how. The data problem will snowball over time. The sooner you do something to address it, the better.” 

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