Warc has released its The Future of Strategy 2024 survey, which reveals the challenges and opportunities facing marketing strategists.
The report surveyed over 1,000 marketing strategists and highlights key discussions about how strategists are navigating budget cuts, changing roles and provides suggestions on how to revitalise the discipline.
The report outlined the challenges impacting strategists as a splintering of strategy roles, a lack of value for strategy and a lack of investment in the training of strategists.
48% of all strategists believe that clients pay insufficiently for the value of their work, with only one in four strategists (24%) stating that clients pay sufficiently for their work.
Only 43% of strategists agreed that their company invests in training to support their professional development, with reduced training budgets, tight deadlines, hybrid working, and senior talent leaving agencies leaving major skills gaps.
To overcome these challenges, the report highlighted three opportunities to reignite strategy and address the client-strategy disconnect.
Firstly, by adopting ‘whole’ strategy thinking, and ensuring different ‘flavours’ of strategy are working in service of the broader brand and business goals, strategists can ensure they are always serving the ‘big ambition’.
Secondly, the survey suggested that strategists need to show clients that they understand their customers and can help clients get to a better understanding of market dynamics, and the diagnosis of their brand.
With just 24% of strategists stating that detailed information about target audiences features in the majority of client briefs, proving that they understand the customer is crucial.
Finally, the report suggested that marketers often operate in a ‘bubble’ far removed from the reality of their customers’ lives, with half of all strategists (48%) saying they are spending less time conducting in-person research compared to last year.
The report stated that, strategists must retain the link to ‘real life’ by using a variety of research tools, including in-person research to become more efficient.
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