8 of the Top Marketing Challenges Marketers Face (And Their Solutions)

Every marketer faces different challenges. Although we typically share similar goals, some teams are stuck on hiring top talent, while others are having trouble finding the right technology for their needs.

Whatever the case may be, there’s always at least one area that you can stand to improve. In other words, there’s always room to optimize the various components of your strategy and turn your marketing into an even more effective revenue generator.

Curious about what kinds of obstacles other marketers are up against? We polled thousands of marketers on the challenges they face, as well as the tactics they’ve used to meet those challenges head-on. Here are some of the most common challenges marketers reported to be struggling with ... and their solutions.

To learn more about the challenges marketers face today, download the free 2015 State of Inbound Report here.

The Most Common Marketing Problems We Face, According to 2015 State of Inbound Report

According to our report, proving ROI and getting more budget are the leading challenges marketers face. Here's how each marketing challenge breaks down, by company size:

Image Credit: The 2015 State of Inbound Report

Let's go through each of these top challenges and how marketers can address them.

1) Providing the ROI of Your Marketing Activities

Why It's a Challenge

Measuring the ROI (return on investment) of your marketing activities was the top marketing challenge, according to the 2015 State of Inbound report. But it's a vital way for marketers to understand the effectiveness of each particular marketing campaign, piece of content, etc.

Plus, proving ROI often goes hand-in-hand with making an argument to increase budget: No ROI tracking, no demonstrable ROI. No ROI, no budget. 

But tracking the ROI of every single marketing activity isn't always easy, especially if you don't have two-way communication between your marketing activities and sales reports. 

What Can You Do?

When it comes to providing ROI, there's a strong case to be made for dedicating time and resources to establishing links between marketing activities and sales results. This means using both marketing software (like HubSpot) and a CRM solution (like HubSpot's free CRM), and then tying them together to close the loop between your marketing and sales efforts. That way, you can directly see how many leads and customers are generated through your marketing activities.

Leading marketers also check their analytics frequently. In our survey, respondents who achieved greater ROI in 2015 than the previous year were approximately 20% more likely to check their marketing analytics 3+ times per week (or have someone on their team do so).

Finally, when it comes to increasing ROI, inbound marketing is proven to be the best bang for your buck. Every company we surveyed -- regardless of marketing spend -- was 3X as likely to see a higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than on outbound.

(Use this ROI calculator to simulate the potential ROI you could realize by conducting inbound marketing.)

2) Securing Enough Budget

Why It's a Challenge

Securing more budget has been the second-most pressing challenge for survey respondents the last two years running. But marketers know getting more budget is often easier said than done -- especially for smaller organizations that aren't working with sizable nor flexible marketing spend.

And an increased budget is important: Our data showed that the more budget marketers have to begin with (until they hit the $5 million dollar ceiling), the more they’re likely to receive next year. More than half of all marketers with budgets over $25,000 saw a bump in funds since 2014.

But the key to securing more money for your team might not be that complex. Here's what you can do.

What Can You Do?

The key to unlocking budget lies in being able to prove the ROI of your marketing efforts. According to our report, respondents whose teams demonstrated positive marketing ROI in 2015 were more than twice as likely to receive higher budget.

We found that, for marketers who did see a change to their inbound budget from 2014 to 2015, the most important factor to driving a higher inbound budget was past success with inbound marketing. However, past failure with inbound marketing also resulted in a higher budget: Of those who failed with inbound last year, 81% increased budget as a result. This means that top marketers realize inbound marketing is a long game. If you get off to a slow start, you shouldn’t back off -- in fact, you might consider doubling down.

Again, the only way to have that data is to track it in the first place. Respondents who tracked ROI were over 20% more likely to receive higher budget than their counterparts who failed to keep tabs. Marketers can't afford to be loose about their ROI tracking.

3) Managing Your Website

Why It's a Challenge

Managing a website was the third biggest challenge for marketers in 2015 -- especially for small companies fighting to reach the growth phase, as well as for nonprofit organizations. For nonprofits, managing a website was actually the #1 concern, ranking above providing ROI and securing more budget.

But, chances are, your website's performance is high on your list of priorities. It's an asset that works around the clock to draw in visitors, convert them, and help you hit your goals, after all. 

Issues with website management includes a variety of different factors, from writing and optimizing the content to designing beautiful webpages. Here are a few things marketers can do to deal with this challenge. 

What Can You Do?

First, read this report to see how your website stacks up against 26,000 other websites. It also includes a deep analysis on the four most critical elements of website performance and design, from average load time and website security, to mobile friendliness and SEO.

If your primary challenge with managing a website has to do with the skills and resources you have available, you aren't alone. This is especially true for small companies who don't have all the talent in-house required to cover content, optimization, design, and back-end website management.

One solution? Hire freelancers and agency partners. This year, our data showed an increase in the number of respondents who indicated they use freelancers and agency partners for content creation. To find freelancers, we recommend:

• Tapping into your personal and professional network by posting on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networks with a description of what you're looking for.
• Browsing freelance writers and designers based on their portfolios and areas of interest. For writers, check out Zerys and Contently. For designers, check out Behance & Elance.
• Browsing HubSpot's Services Marketplace, which lists a wide variety of designers from partner companies and agencies we've deemed credible.

Overall, you can make website management easier on your team by hosting your website on a platform that integrates all your marketing channels like HubSpot's COS.

Finally, for the projects you want to keep in-house, here is a list of blog posts that might be helpful to your team:

• Blog post: 15 of the Best Website Homepage Design Examples
• Blog post: Lead Gen 101: How to Create an Intuitive Website Conversion Path
• Blog post: Web Design 101: How HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Work
• Blog post: The 8 Elements of Modern Web Design (And Web Design Trends to Watch)
• Blog post: The Beginner's Guide to SSL: What It Is & Why It Makes Your Website More Secure
• Blog post: Designing a Website Blueprint: How to Create Your XML Sitemap
• Ebook: The Ultimate Workbook for Redesigning Your Website

4) Identifying the Right Technologies for Your Needs

Why It's a Challenge

Finding the right technologies was the fourth biggest concern for marketers this year. Oftentimes, this is because feedback on technology is scattered. Marketers might turn to colleagues, friends in the industry, and/or analyst reports to figure out which technologies best fit their needs -- only to find that feedback is spread across emails, social media, and so on from people of varied reputability.

When you're looking for a tool, software, or piece of technology to solve a specific marketing problem, where do you go to find it?

What Can You Do?

For those of you looking for a tool, software, or piece of technology to solve a specific marketing problem, we recommend taking a look at Growthverse: a free, interactive, online visualization of the marketing technology landscape that focuses on the business problems marketers are trying to solve, and leads them to specific pieces of marketing technology that aim to solve those problems. We've found it to be a really well visualized map of carefully curated marketing technology resources. (Click here to read a blog post about how Growthverse works.)

It's worth noting that the main tool in top marketers’ arsenals is a platform for automating their team’s marketing efforts. We found that although our respondents indicated using an array of specific products, the larger trend was telling: The top marketers use marketing automation software in some form or another. Specifically, those who saw a higher marketing ROI in 2014 were more likely to have used marketing automation software than not. In addition, those same respondents were more likely to see more budget unlocked as a result, and had almost no chance of receiving a lower budget.

5) Training Your Team

Why It's a Challenge

Marketers found training their team to be the fifth biggest challenge this year. Whether it's training them on the concepts and tools they'll be using every day or making sure they're achieving their full potential, the struggle was real across the board. 

To combat this, I’ll share some tips I’ve used during my trainings to make sure the concepts and tool tips stick and have a lasting effect on your team and your marketing. 

What Can You Do?

To get an overall idea of where your team stands, take a few minutes to assess each of your team members' marketing strengths and weaknesses, levels of expertise, and passion/commitment to your company. Then, objectively rate the priority (or level of importance) of their expertise and their contribution to bottom line objectives (ROI) to date. Here's a simple assessment tool from Lean Labs to help you evaluate your team so you can figure out who needs recognition and who needs coaching.

Next, check out this awesome resource from HubSpot Academy, The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Training. It's a guide that'll help you navigate all the marketing training options you have, from quick daily habits to more rigorous, career-launching investments. 

You also might consider requiring your team members to rack up some online marketing certification. HubSpot Academy, for example, offers certifications, documentation, and training programs to help people master the basics of inbound marketing. Google also offers training and certifications on analytics with their online Analytics Academy.

What about new hire training, specifically? We recommend creating a training plan for new team members. Here at HubSpot, each new marketer is given a 100-day plan like this one to lay out specific goals and help new hires demonstrate their effectiveness.

6) Targeting Content for an International Audience

Why It's a Challenge

Targeting is a key component of all aspects of marketing. To be more effective at targeting, one of the first things any marketer needs do is identify their buyer personas to determine who it is they should be marketing to. If you're expanding internationally, it can be a big challenge not only to figure out the best ways to market to an international audience, but also to organize and optimize your site for different countries.

What Can You Do?

Start by reading this blog post on 22 global marketing hacks and resources. There are some really helpful tips in there that'll help give you some direction on global marketing, including how to identify your top three growth markets, how to explore local trends, and tips on choosing the best localization providers. (For a more in-depth guide, download our free ebook, The Global Marketing Playbook.)

Remember, your website visitors might speak a plethora of different languages and live in totally different time zones. To make your content appealing to a wide audience, you'll need to keep your global visitors top-of-mind when creating all your content. This means being aware of seasonal references, translating units of measure and monetary references, and giving translators the tools and permissions to customize and adapt content for a specific audience when they need to.

Finally, be sure you're optimizing your website for international visitors, too. One of the first and most important decisions you'll need to make is determining which domain structure should be used for additional languages and countries. (For more tips and resources on global marketing expansion, browse our international inbound marketing hub.)

7) Hiring Top Talent

Why It's a Challenge

Hiring top talent was the seventh biggest challenge marketers reported experiencing this year. Why? Many companies are shifting more resources to inbound marketing, which means higher and higher demand for top marketing talent. But supply simply isn't keeping up. From sourcing the right candidates to evaluating for the right skills, finding the perfect person could take months ... or more.

What's more, the type of marketing talent companies are looking for is changing, too. In Moz and Fractl's analysis of thousands of job postings on Indeed.com, they concluded that employers are seeking marketers with technical and creative skill sets. And the quick rate at which the demand for these jobs are rising has caused a marketing skills gap, "making it difficult to find candidates with the technical, creative, and business proficiencies needed to succeed in digital marketing."

What Can You Do?

Employers are looking for marketers with a diverse skill set that includes digital marketing, content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing. To find the best inbound marketer for your team, the first thing you should do is decide what that person needs to be able to achieve for your business.

Ask yourself: What will the new marketer's tasks and duties include? What skills do those tasks and duties require? What goals or challenges will the new marketer face? Use your answers to these questions to write a compelling job description. (Here are 37 pre-written marketing job descriptions to help you get started.)

Next, post your jobs where talented inbound marketers will find them. While traditional job sites like Indeed.com, CareerBuilder.com, or LinkedIn will help you cast a wide net, we recommend checking out Inbound.org, which is the only job listing service in the world that's exclusively focused on inbound marketing and sales jobs.

Finally, download this free kit on building and managing an agile, modern marketing team. The kit includes eight more, ready-made marketing job descriptions, information on finding and hiring the perfect inbound marketer, interview questions for candidates, and how to recruit and evaluate marketing interns. 

8) Finding an Executive Sponsor

Why It's a Challenge

Having an executive sponsor usually means you have someone in a highly placed position pushing your agenda for you. While finding one is eighth on the list of top marketing challenges, we've found this priority has become significantly more important for marketers in 2015 as compared to 2014. Specifically, finding an executive sponsor was more than 7X as likely to be cited as a challenge in 2015 as it was in 2014.

This makes sense, given that our survey respondents skewed toward SMBs: Marketers who are highly focused on securing more budget (and proving the ROI of their marketing spend) are likely interested in getting executives on their side to secure buy-in for inbound marketing practices. 

We also found that senior executives favor inbound marketing more than managers do:

Image Credit: The 2015 State of Inbound Report

Among managers or senior managers, outbound was perceived to be the best marketing approach in terms of generating ROI. Inbound catches up to outbound at the non-executive VP/director level, and passes it at the executive rank (executive-level personnel represented over a third of all survey respondents).

What Can You Do?

One key way to help convince an executive to help push your inbound marketing agenda -- and hopefully become a sponsor -- is to use data to make a compelling case for inbound marketing. It's much harder to refute data than it is mission statements and philosophies. Read this blog post to learn more about using data to make your case. (Bonus: You'll also find in there 100 stats, charts, and graphs to get inbound marketing buy-in.)

Does Your Company Face Any of These Challenges?

A thorough analysis of your marketing strategy and its current performance will help you discover where your biggest marketing opportunity lies. This will allow you to focus on improving the areas that need the most attention, so you can start making your marketing far more effective.

If you're faced with a challenge and want ideas on how to best tackle it, you can always consider getting some help by any of the various types of marketing training that are available.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in November 2012 and has been updated for freshness and comprehensiveness.