Marketers facing unprecedented skill gap

With increasing demand to demonstrate genuine value to the bottom line, Australian marketers are being challenged to upskill or face the very real likelihood of being left behind.

Recent research1 conducted by The Association for Data-Driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA) shows marketers are struggling to keep up-to-date with advances in technology with education, resourcing and budget constraints contributing to the knowledge shortfall.

“The marketing landscape has fundamentally changed and with this change, a new skillset has emerged. Being able to interpret and use data and be agile and equipped to make full use of new technology such as machine learning, has become a fundamental part of every marketing team’s toolkit,’ said Andrea Martens, Managing Director of ADMA.

Of those surveyed, customer journey management and marketing automation were the top two skill gaps identified in most marketing teams.

“There is a huge desire from the marketing community to continue to develop these skills. With this knowledge, marketers can have the ability to transform the way they go to market with smarter and more tailored solutions that not only meet but exceed customer experience expectations,” said Martens.

She believes the fight for budget will also be influenced by the ability for marketing teams to show how their work is genuinely delivering a good return on investment.

“CEOs are always going to have to make smart investment choices. Marketers need to get better at proving how they can have a positive impact on the bottom line. Technology and data analytics can help them do that."

“It’s a challenging environment for any marketer. Businesses need to invest in their marketing teams to ensure they have the skills to build and execute programs that deliver real impact,” said Martens.

With a primary focus on providing leading education services in the marketing sector, ADMA will kick off its education journey this year with Data Day, the leading data event in Australia.

Now in its 15th year, Data Day will feature an impressive local and global line-up of speakers in data and analytics, digital and marketing. Together, these industry leaders will share the data strategies driving success at some of the world’s biggest brands.

“For teams wanting to get the year off to a good start, upskill and be inspired by some of the best practitioners in the business, Data Day will deliver,” said Martens.

Highlights of Data Day 2019 include Steve Lesnard, Former VP Global Brand Marketing at Nike (US), Zoher Karu, Managing Director, Head of Data & Analytics at Citbank (APAC) and Vladka Kazda, Chief Customer Officer at Carsales. They will be supported by 14 other speakers discussing how data and analytics can deliver on business objectives.

Steve Lesnard’s keynote address will be a masterclass on how to build a lasting brand by using data insights to truly deliver on customer expectations.

They will also share how data programs are being used to transform customer communication, share insights into GDPR adoption in Australia as well as hands-on case studies on what tools marketers use to democratise data.

Data Day will be held in Sydney on 2 April and in Melbourne on 4 April. To explore the Data Day program or for ticketing information, visit www.adma.com.au/data-day

Data Day speakers include:

• Dean Chadwick, CMO, Virgin Velocity

• Matt Copus, Head of Retail Analytics, CBRE

• David Doepel, CEO, Demand Film

• Neil Gardner, Chief Customer Officer, Generali Asia

• Jared Geurts, Senior Director – Analytics, Utah Jazz (Basketball Team, US)

• Zoher Karu, Managing Director, Head of Data and Analytics, Citibank (SG)

• Rolee Satyam, Head of Digital Analytics – WooliesX, Woolworths

• Richard Lord, Chief Information Officer, HSBC (APAC)

• Rob Hango-Zada, Co-Founder/Joint CEO, Shippit

• Vladka Kazda, Chief Customer Officer, Carsales

• Steve Lesnard, Former VP Global Brand Marketing & General Manager Experiences, Nike (US)

• Lawrence Mitchell, Chief Customer Officer, SumoSalad

• Alicia Olson-Keating, Head of Audience Data & Insights, ABC

• Suzana Ristevski, Executive GM Marketing & CX, NAB

• Philip Shelper, CEO, Loyalty & Reward Co

• Teresa Sperti, CMO, World Vision

• Susie Sugden, CCO & CMO, Temple & Webster

#ENDS

For more information or for interviews with Andrea or the Data Day speakers, contact Mel Cullen 0408 029 546 or melissacullen0@gmail.com

About ADMA and AADL: The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) is the principal industry body for data-driven marketing and advertising. ADMA is the ultimate authority and go-to resource for effective and creative data-driven marketing across all channels and platforms, providing insight, ideas and innovation for today's marketing industry. In 2017, ADMA became part of the Australia Alliance for Data Leadership (AADL), a network of associations with the common thread of data and the customer, representing the essential functions of data-driven business. AADL network associations include the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA), Data Governance Australia (DGA) and Digital + Technology Collective.

1ADMA 2019 and Beyond survey, December 2018