Focus Research ©2012 All Rights Reserved

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap 2Focus Research ©2012

The 2012 Marketing Skills Gap survey conducted by Focus and the Marketing Automation Institute and sponsored by Eloqua and Bulldog Solutions revealed a significant issue: marketers are struggling to acquire the right skills to do their jobs effectively. Furthermore, the study revealed the impact that these lack of skills are having on revenue, the sales and marketing alignment gap, and how little organizations are doing to change the dynamic within their organizations. In other words, there is a skills gap issue in marketing and fixing this problem has the potential to drive a company’s revenue growth and bottom line.

Organizations must make a commitment to closing this gap. In today’s B2B environment, marketing is more important than ever and the longer this issue goes unaddressed, the longer organizations will struggle to see a significant impact on their revenue from marketing activities.

In response to the data that was received by close to 500 respondents, these are 5 things that organizations should do immediately to address the skills gap and begin educating, equipping, and enabling their marketing personnel.

1. Get commitment from the CEO

Imagine if a CEO of an organization was approached by the head of a business unit or a VP and told that the company had an issue that more often than not was having a negative impact on revenue. In fact, the issue was so severe that in looking at the problem, 75% of the organization agreed that this issue was limiting the ability to generate more revenue.

In all likelihood the CEO would assign a task force to the issue, would allocate the necessary resources to fix the problem, and perhaps even hire an outside team of consultants. You can be sure that it would be “all hands on deck” until the issue was solved and the necessary heads had rolled.

The truth is that problem exists today in most organizations and the CEO has either turned a blind eye or is unaware of the depth of the issue. It is key that marketing raise this issue and paint the picture for the CEO that shows there is a problem, i.e. just how profound the revenue impact is.

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap

75% of all

respondents in the

Skills Gap study

stated that their

skills gap has an

impact on their

corporate revenue

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap 3Focus Research ©2012

In order for marketers to acquire the necessary skills, they need the commitment of the CEO to provide the necessary funding and make it a priority; otherwise, this will not get the necessary attention.

2. Allocate funds to address skills development

Every marketing budget should have a line item that allocates funding for education of the marketing organization. This should not come at the cost of some other program, but should be part of every marketing budget in their next budget cycle.

How much should be allocated? That will depend on what skills need to be developed and where the biggest gaps exist. The allocation should truly enable those in the marketing organization and educate them. This is not accomplished by sending marketing employees to a half-day seminar at the Ramada hotel. This will be accomplished over time but with advanced training.

If a baseline is needed for how much should be spent, use the following:

In analyzing the data from the research, more than 25% of large companies spend more than $5,000 per year on skills training; this is a good figure to use as a baseline.

Organizations that fail to invest in the proper skills development will consistently see poor results from their marketing and more often will fail to see improvements in their marketing ROI.

3. Develop a long-term education strategy

The wrong answer to the skills gap problem is to say “go take a class.” The right answer is to create a long-term plan that is focused on constant, progressive learning. The education plan should strive to make employees not just marginally better, but great!

With the rapid change of the B2B marketing environment, the goal for education should be to stay ahead of the game. A long-term educational strategy will enable this. Much like how HR departments develop leadership plans for employees that are identified as having potential for future organizational leadership, marketing should take the same approach.

46% of organizations spend less than $500 per year on skills training

63% of respondents stated they receive no formal skills training or receive skills training on an “ad hoc” basis

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap 4Focus Research ©2012

Equipping teams with the key basics and then allowing them to advance in their learning will be essential to the long-term success of any organization.

Understand that the skills acquired will be honed with hands-on experience, which takes time, but allowing individuals to put these new skills to work will make them better at their jobs and ultimately will enable marketing to deliver more value to the organization.

4. Support skills training for specific roles

The optimal marketing organization is not made up of “jack-of-all-trades” marketers but specialists who own specific responsibilities in the organization. The types of roles depend on your organization’s goals, but some examples are: content marketing, demand generation, web marketing, and marketing operations. Each role requires specific skill sets and therefore requires skill-specific training.

While there are many general marketing seminars and workshops available, this is not the kind of training that is needed for marketing personnel. The training must be specific to what they need to do their day-to-day job most effectively.

If there is no clear understanding of which specific skills are lacking from each marketing team member, conduct a personnel review and align the training and long-term plan to the role of each individual.

5. Offer multiple channels for development

More than 50% of respondents stated they are self taught via online content, blogs, on the job learning, and marketing booksWhile marketers should be applauded for trying to acquire the necessary skills independently, they should not be left to try and figure it out on their own. Rather, effective marketing organizations should develop a multi-channel training plan. The mix can include some or all of the following:

• In-person training • Online written curriculum • Gamification

• Video • Podcasts • Online classroom type learning

of respondents

stated that demand generation

is the most important

contributor to revenue, while

14% chose demand generation

as the skill most lacking

23%

5 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap 5Focus Research ©2012

The truth is that people learn in different ways, and to provide the training in only one format may not benefit a good portion of the marketing team. Providing multiple channels will be more valuable and allow individuals to acquire the skills that suit their learning style best.

Summary:

There is no doubt that today’s marketer is far behind in the acquisition of the skills needed to do their job most effectively. If organizations are going to demand more from their marketing teams, the must provide them every means necessary to succeed. By not investing in the development of their people, organizations are limiting success and reducing the overall value of their marketing spend.

Below is a list of recommended resources that provide the type of skills training needed for today’s marketing personnel.

• The Marketing Automation Institute:www.marketingautomationinstitute.com

• The Content Marketing Institute:www.contentmarketinginstitute.com

• MarketingProfs:www.marketingprofs.com

• Online Marketing Institute:www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org

• Sirius Decisions:www.siriusdecisions.com

• MarketingSherpa:www.marketingsherpa.com