Research: More than a quarter of companies do not monitor their marketing performance

For the ninth time, researchers from the Department of Marketing at the School of Business collected the national Markkinoinnin tila (State of Marketing) survey data. The data covers a wide range of strategic marketing areas, from marketing budgeting to AI, analytics and sustainability goals. The survey was sent to all Finnish companies employing more than five people, and responses were received from nearly 740 companies.

‘This is exceptional data, even internationally, and will be used in many studies in the future. Similar data has been collected every two years since 2008, and the longitudinal data set provides a comprehensive view of the recent developments in strategic marketing in Finland, says Professor (associate) Johanna Frösén, who is responsible for the survey.

According to the responses to the survey, Finnish firms spend on average just under 7% of their turnover on marketing. The smaller the company, the higher the relative share spent on marketing. The focus of marketing communication is on digital channels, with a fairly equal emphasis on brand advertising and performance advertising. B2B companies spend slightly more on brand advertising than B2C companies.

A quarter of respondents do not use AI in marketing 

The survey responses indicate there is room for improvement in marketing analytics and the use of different marketing technologies in general. Work on customer loyalty and brand management are currently mostly supported by analytics, according to the survey.  Marketing analytics is particularly useful for real-time decision making and the identification of market regularities.

‘Generative AI is particularly used to support internal marketing processes. 25% of respondents have not implemented AI in any area of marketing. Large companies are the most active in experimenting with new AI-based tools - yet the use of AI is generally more established in SMEs,’ says Johanna Frösén.

Top management in companies typically has the best information on customer satisfaction. Both those working at the customer interface and the board of directors of the company were less well informed. However, customer satisfaction has not yet established itself as a key performance indicator (KPI) in the top management goal-setting process. The use of customer satisfaction as a basis for rewards and incentives is also rare.

‘Net promoter score (NPS) is by far the single most tracked measure of customer satisfaction. NPS is a satisfaction measure based on a single question that asks respondents to rate how likely they would be to recommend a company, product, or service to a friend or colleague. On the qualitative side, traditional customer satisfaction surveys and customer complaint tracking are key tools for monitoring satisfaction,’ says Frösén.

The survey also found that more than a quarter of companies do not monitor the effectiveness of their marketing. Only two-fifths of companies feel they can demonstrate the impact of their marketing investments on their overall business performance. Objectives set to marketing are more often related to immediate outcomes such as sales, image, and brand equity than to business growth and profitability.

External regulations are the key driver for environmental and societal considerations. Societal issues in particular are also seen as an opportunity to create strategic advantage and differentiation in the market.