As the Chancellor announced his budget for the coming year to support the recovery of the UK economy, a new study delivers a stark warning to businesses across the North West. The report by Arlington Research and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has found close to half (42%) of decision makers in the UK do not believe their company has a strategic vision.
With the world finding itself in a global pandemic and with rising unemployment figures, many employees are looking to their boards for strong leadership, but the research shows a worrying level of neglect when it comes to strategic vision.
A critical part of any strategy is to understand the problem a business is trying to solve, so it is encouraging to see 71% of decision makers questioned stating that they regularly survey their customers. However, almost half of employees (48%) said their organisation didn’t have an adequate process to share knowledge of customer needs upwards in the company.
John-Paul Simpson, chair of CIM North West, said:
“The research is worrisome, in what has been turbulent times with reduced capacity and budgets, it is understandable there has been a focus on survival. Many North West companies have demonstrated innovation during the pandemic, born from the strength and pioneering spirit the region is known for. As we enter a phase of recovery with restrictions set to be lifted, businesses should consider new tactics and ways of reaching customers, while making sure everything is tracked at every stage.
Now more than ever, companies need to recognise that in order to secure their future, they must reinvigorate their workforce, using new channels to listen, learn, share strategic and cultural values and ensure employees know which way the ship is sailing.
That said, there is no point listening if actions aren’t taken. Marketing is the link between customers, employees and investors. We have a breadth of marketing talent in the region and I urge businesses across the North West to engage with marketers to help drive and shape their future plans.”
John-Paul Simpson, chair of CIM North West
Less than half of UK employees (45%) believe their organisation monitors how the competition communicates in the public domain while half of employees believe their competitors’ marketing is better than theirs.
“Customers, competition and communication. Understanding the importance of all three of these are critical for any business plan to succeed.”
The worry from our research was the amount of businesses who are blindly focusing on specific tactics and approaches regardless of insight. Now is the time to understand the full picture and create a strategy that employees can get excited about and fully behind”
Paul Stallard, MD Arlington Research
Further findings from CIM and Arlington Research’s survey are available via the market research blog while CIM members can download the full report from MyCIM. Additional content will also be made available on the Exchange content hub and CIM newsroom.
