Marketing results not shared with wider business in fifth of large firms

Having worked hard on a new campaign it must feel demoralising when the company fails to communicate the successes, or lessons learnt, with the wider business.

Moreover, could this lack of communication be hampering the ability of marketers to grow their influence by proving the tangible value of their work?

Marketing Week’s exclusive Language of Effectiveness Survey of 1,610 brand-side marketers reveals in 15.4% of businesses the results of marketing campaigns are not communicated to the wider company.

This number rises to almost a fifth (19.1%) within large organisations (250 employees and over) and drops to 11.3% in SMEs.

Some 17.2% of the total sample strongly agree they feel demotivated when the successes of marketing campaigns aren’t actively communicated to the wider business. A further 32.9% of marketers agree, taking the combined total feeling demoralised to 50.1%.

Within SMEs the number of marketers feeling demotivated by the lack of communication is slightly higher at 50.9%, while in large corporates this number dips to 49.3%.

When the results of marketing campaigns are communicated with the wider business, email updates on key metrics are the most common method (38.5%) used by the total sample, followed by internal success stories/awards (38.3%) and divisional/brand townhalls (30.2%).

Less than a third of CEOs see effectiveness analysis

More than a quarter of brands favour discussing marketing success in company townhalls (29.2%), while 27.1% opt to share the news in company newsletters.

Unlike their peers in large organisations, SME marketers are most likely to see the results of campaigns communicated via email updates (40.1%), followed by the sharing of internal success stories or giving out of awards (35.8%).

SMEs favour sharing marketing success in company-wide townhalls (26.2%) over divisional/brand townhalls (25.2%), while newsletters (23.4%) are the least preferred option.

Sharing internal success stories or giving out awards is the most popular (40.4%) method of communicating the results of marketing campaigns in large organisations, followed by regular email updates detailing key metrics (37.1%) and divisional/brand townhalls (34%).

Company-wide townhalls are less popular (30.5%), followed by internal newsletters (29.9%).

The Language of Effectiveness Survey has already revealed the gaps in who sees the results of marketing effectiveness. Less than a third (31%) of the brand-side marketers surveyed share effectiveness analysis with the chairman or CEO, while just a fifth (20%) present the results to board members.

Given the number of businesses failing to communicate the results of marketing campaigns, combined with the gaps in terms of who receives the information, there’s a danger marketers are not able to build a strong enough business case for their impact.

Affording themselves more space and time to share the results of their work with the wider business should enable marketers to demonstrate to their colleagues their ability to drive growth and lead on innovation.

Marketing Week will be concluding its focus on the Language of Effectiveness data with a feature exploring the importance of sharing results beyond the marketing department. 

To read all the Language of Effectiveness content so far, click here