Survey results found 52% of marketers felt the pandemic left the department with more work and less resources.
SJT Marketing LLC and YourMarketer LLC jointly released Rethinking Marketing: 2022 a Survey of Today’s Marketing Department. Performed in the closing months of 2021, the survey found that Marketing departments in the U.S., across industries, experienced major changes during the pandemic, drastically modifying their strategies under pressure from reduced headcount and budgets.
The survey found that 34% of 71 respondents were responsible for roles outside the marketing department, in addition to their marketing job, which caused inefficiency in resource use around finding and building a loyal client base. 59% of marketers are handling over 5 core job responsibilities, making it difficult to maintain high level performance and meet the expectations of key stakeholders.
Said CEO of YourMarketer Jennifer Palmer Farrington, “We wanted to put into numbers what we were hearing from our marketing colleagues regarding changes in their departments. We were concerned to find that 81% of marketers felt both that their workload had increased due to the pandemic, and that 43% saw their budgets cut.”
Highlights from the survey:
Marketing has input into strategy and budget but requires leadership approval to execute. Despite 52% of respondents stating that their CMP/VP was on the organization leadership team, they require approval on individual budget items. Only 20% of CMPs/VPs have full approval of the marketing budget and activities.
Marketers do not have enough resources to excel in their jobs. They are experts at making more from less. However, the past two years have taken a toll on the Marketing Department, with 52% of respondents stating that not having enough resources is their top stressor. Inflation and the increase in ad costs are additional difficulties.
Marketing department requests are up, and the expectations are unrealistic. 50% of Marketing Departments saw an increase in the number of requests and felt that expectations were unrealistic.
Marketers are nearly evenly split, 52/48 as to whether they need to say yes to every project that lands on their desk. Knowing when to say “no” to a project is important to keeping marketing strategy on track. If a project does not fit into the approved strategy, team members need to be able to say “no” and pass, so they can keep building the business on time.
Marketers, for the most part, were not asked to give up a portion of their salary, but those who did haven’t seen it return. Only 33% of the marketers surveyed had to give up a portion of their salary and/or benefits during the pandemic. Out of those, only 40% had the salary and/or benefits returned to them.
President of SJT Marketing Sara Janjigian Trifiro added, “We’ve all gone through challenging times; we now need to analyze our departments and make sure we are structuring and supporting them for success – for the marketers and for the company.”
To access the full survey, click here.
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Media Contacts: Jennifer Palmer Farrington | P: 203.894.6473
Sara Janjigian Trifiro | P: 617.308.2891
About YourMarketer LLC
YourMarketer bridges the gap between marketers and businesses. Our focus on professional services allows us to carefully match clients with industry experts. Our veteran freelancers offer expert marketing services, including branded marketing strategy and marketing plans, social media services, graphic design, website design and video editing and production. To learn more visit YourMarketer.com, view our video and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About SJT Marketing LLC
SJT Marketing helps professional services firms and nonprofit organizations develop sales and marketing strategies leveraging your organization's current strengths while positioning you for growth. To learn more visit sjtmarketing.net.
