Independent Study Finds Financial Management Automation is Critical to Maximize Marketing Value

– Gap exists between perceived budget effectiveness and actual operational performance in marketing organizations

– Manual budget management capabilities lack the agility needed to maximize marketing ROI

– Marketing Ops solutions solve collaboration and visibility challenges caused by multiple/outdated tools

BrandMaker, the leading innovator in Marketing Operations and Marketing Resource Management solutions, today announced the results of an independent research study conducted by Forrester Consulting on how marketing organizations can maximize their marketing budgets. Forrester’s research found a significant gap between perceived budget effectiveness and actual operational performance in marketing organizations today. The study highlighted marketers require greater agility through automation to meet customer expectations and business demands.

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What does ‘good enough’ mean for marketing budgets?

The research found that most marketing leaders [74% and over] believe their organizations effectively respond to internal and external factors that necessitate budget and resource adjustments.

However, just 30% of survey respondents said they could adjust or reallocate spending based on campaign performance within a week. The turnaround time is similar for adjustments based on customer needs, competitive landscape, and market conditions. Ideally, organizations should make these budgetary changes in near-real-time, but only 11% of respondents say they can make the necessary updates within a day.

It can take months or longer to shift investments, which prevents marketers from delivering full value to the business.

Multiple budgeting tools create added complexity

Budget management is a major part of the job for most marketing executives. But few have mastered, with 7 in 10 marketers saying they spend more time on budget management than they would like—time that could be better spent on realizing key marketing goals.

Survey respondents cited manual processes, collaboration challenges, and a lack of visibility as the top reasons they spend too much time on budget management.

One key problem is that most marketers are still using spreadsheets to manage their budgets manually.

A second challenge is the number of tools used, with only 14% of respondents using a single tool solution for budgeting. Using multiple tools can limit visibility and slow budget optimization processes, particularly if spreadsheets are the primary tools involved.

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Marketing Ops boosts automation for budget management

The right budget management capabilities can give marketers the agility they need to maximize ROI. Marketing Ops solutions can improve collaboration and enable visibility into all marketing investments and performance results – across teams, the business, and partners.

To achieve success, marketers must automate budget processes and workflows based on real-time access to critical data. Marketing organizations that attain budget agility effectively align their operations with business goals and prove the value of marketing investments. This is critical for marketers to articulate and justify the need for increasing marketing budgets.

Said Mirko Holzer, CEO of BrandMaker: “Agility is a marketing superpower that goes beyond quick thinking for the next marketing campaign. We believe Forrester’s research proves that marketers require greater agility in their operations to keep pace with the expectations of empowered customers and day-to-day business demands. They must reallocate the budget to the most critical investments in real-time, but today most settle for months or longer. With the right marketing ops solution, marketers can supercharge performance and ensure they are quick and nimble enough to thrive in today’s digital economy.”

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