Here's why marketers need to lead organisational change

Marketers will have to look beyond their current job scope to play the role of a true unifier of an organisation, if brands have to deliver a great customer experience.For the first time, the 2015 Adobe APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard examined creative empowerment and content velocity indicators, both critical to delivering an integrated and compelling customer experience across digital and real-world touchpoints.The inclusion of these two new categories revealed that companies have not yet managed to extend this integrated approach to cover creativity and the development of content.Only 4% of APAC marketers feel that they have a highly evolved creative engine fueled by an organization-wide, unified vision. In getting to this nirvana, the challenge lies in breaking down functional silos: 31% of Singapore marketers report they struggle to connect functional silos across their organisation.Another challenge lies in the area of organisational culture. Across APAC, all countries report very low levels (9%) when it comes to organizational culture that is dedicated to a unified, dynamic customer experience powered by creative content and digital experiences. This is even lower in Singapore at 7%.Other key findings from the research include:Customers are driving adoption and optimisation of digital marketing for their markets. In Singapore, customer preference and digital dependency is driving adoption of digital marketing at 73%, above the APAC average, indicating a digitally discerning and demanding audience. Other drivers include cost efficiency and effectiveness at 67% and ability to better engage and activate audiences at 62%, which has increased from 52% in 2014.Digital marketing enjoys strong business leadership support. 43% of Singapore marketers report a strong digital champion on the leadership team, slightly above 2014 levels of 41%Business leaders in Singapore are not yet fully convinced of the ROI of digital. 21% of Singapore marketers report that their APAC leadership teams have doubts. This is higher than the APAC and average of 17%.Data is where marketers have made the least progress across the digital marketing journey. There are signs that marketers might be going back to viewing data merely for reporting, rather than as a tool to improve campaign performance.17% of Singapore marketers report they archive data but do nothing with it. This is an increase of 2% since 2014 and above the APAC average of 11%.Stephen Hamill, managing director, Adobe South East Asia, said: “While marketers rightly see digital marketing as a channel to engage audiences, they need to begin looking at incorporating unified digital customer experiences across all touchpoints.”“The lack of a unified creative vision, and an unaligned organizational culture, are both huge obstacles which marketers need to overcome. Hence, the role of marketers moving forward is to lead a paradigm shift in their organizations to enable the delivery a unified customer experience. In essence, we’re saying that marketers need to helm business transformation to digital.”