This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
This week, we're revisiting our conversation with Dr. Mark Ritson, the marketing professor turned consultant who isn't afraid to tell uncomfortable truths about the state of marketing effectiveness.
—Elena
American marketers rank last in formal training among English-speaking nations.
While Ireland leads with 39% of marketers having formal training, followed by Canada (35.1%) and Australia (32.4%), the US trails at just 27.5%. This education gap helps explain why effectiveness knowledge isn't translating into practice.
The effectiveness gap is real.
Mark Ritson doesn't mince words about marketing's effectiveness problem. Here's what he believes is holding us back:
- Missing clear strategy. Everything starts with a well-briefed strategy that defines both long- and short-term goals. Without this foundation, even the best tactics fall flat.
- Unbalanced long- and short-term thinking. The most effective campaigns combine brand building for future growth with activation for immediate results. Most marketers focus too heavily on one or the other.
- Choosing innovation over integration. Don Schultz got it right decades ago. Integrated marketing communications ensure all efforts work together toward consistent brand identity and messaging.
- Not learning from campaigns. Use feedback from campaigns to refine strategies and improve future efforts. The best marketers treat every campaign as a learning opportunity.
- Shiny object syndrome. Despite claims that "everything is different now," consumers operate fundamentally the same way they always have. The tactics evolve, but human nature remains constant.
The solution? Stop looking for shortcuts and start learning from the fundamentals that have worked for decades. The future of marketing looks a lot like the present, just with better tools.
“Effectiveness ignorance has left American marketing lagging behind the rest of the world”
This Marketing Week article by Mark Ritson dives deeper into why US marketers are falling behind in effectiveness knowledge and offers a roadmap for improvement.
Marketing changes, but people stay the same.
“The grand points in human nature are the same today as they were a thousand years ago. The only variability in them is in expression, not in feature. "
— Herman Melville