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28th January 2021

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One in four UK businesses think their marketing isn't performing

Almost a quarter (24%) of UK based businesses believe that their marketing isn't performing as it should be, with a third of these (33%) complaining that the difficulty of making an impact with the advertising they do, is the biggest barrier to success.

The report was put together from the results of studies into the corporate marketing strategies of 300 UK organisations. Respondents to the study were drawn from a diverse mix of businesses, both B2B and B2C, which spanned multiple industry sectors.

Of the companies that participated, 33% said that they implemented advertising as a sales and marketing tool, which put it in third place behind networking (39%) and email marketing (34%) respectively. The widespread use of advertising as a marketing instrument came despite a third of respondents stating that they believed it was 'hard to make an impact through advertising'.

Ian Simpson, Managing Director of Catalogues 4 Business (C4B), which carried out the study, comments: "Marketing plays a huge part in developing a successful business. Without an effective marketing plan, that's properly implemented, the chances of success are severely hampered. The fact that one in four businesses are concerned about the value of their marketing is an eye-opener."

"What's particularly interesting is the amount of businesses that believe advertising is ineffective, yet still use it as a marketing tool. Surely they should consider a different approach if this is the case? There are many different forms of marketing out there which businesses can undertake."

Despite many businesses expressing concern about the success of their advertising, it was still regarded as the second most successful deliverer of sales, with 19% of businesses attributing their sales specifically to the medium, placing it second only to 'networking' at 24%.

Ian says: "It's interesting to note that despite advertising not working for a lot of businesses, it still provides a real sales boost to others. It just goes to show that businesses need to adapt their marketing to suit their offering. Some forms of marketing work much better than others but it's all dependent on the type of business that you run. Who is your target demographic? How are you most likely to reach them? For some that could be social media, for others it could be using field sales, and for yet more it could be via a brochure or a catalogue. It all changes depending on the product that you're looking to sell."

In addition to firms continuing to use advertising, despite a perceived inefficiency, this method of marketing was the third most popular. When it came to prospect marketing, 9% of the businesses questioned say they planned to start using advertising over the next 12 months. Only 'social media' (10%) and 'Search Engine Optimisation' (also 10%) appeared higher in the list.

Ian concludes: "Advertising still look set to be a popular inclusion in the marketing mix over the next year. However it is interesting that relatively modern marketing techniques have surged to the fore. Social media is a comparatively new medium as is search engine optimisation. The results of the study suggest that tech savvy firms are looking to keep up with modern trends and exploit modern practises in order to stay ahead of their competitors and to progress."

To download a copy of the full report - 'Channel Vision, Version 3.0':

T: 0845 2300 258
W: www.catalogues4business.co.uk

26th September 2014