Are marketers sacrificing strategy as tactics take over?
Has the advent of digital pushed a generation of marketers into roles focused on tactical execution to the detriment of developing strategic skills?
Are a generation of marketers failing to get a grip on strategy?
Data suggests the persistent pressure to deliver quarter to quarter, combined with a lack of appreciation for marketing in general, could be having an impact on skills.
Over half (52%) of the more than 3,500 respondents to Marketing Week’s 2025 Career & Salary Survey say their business has a skills gap in marketing strategy. B2B marketers (53.5%) are more likely to identify the strategic skills gap than their B2C counterparts (48.2%), while the issue is more pronounced within large organisations (55.3%) of 250 employees and over, than in SMEs (47.6%).
These results reflect a wider “crisis in marketing”, characterised by a lack of respect for the function which is only exacerbated in challenging times, explains former RS Group CMO and interim head of group marketing at Flowtech, Jon White.
