These are some of the questions Adestra asked of 200 senior–level marketers from different sized companies, across a range of industries, for its Marketer vs. Machine report.

Analysis of the results uncovered three different personas.

Technology Reformists:

They prefer to map out their strategies before considering the technology available. This approach potentially makes them more risk-aware and they will only look at technology they currently have to execute a job rather than investing in new tools. They typically know less about automation and are less interested in learning about it.

Technology Revolutionists:

They love technology and love keeping up to date with the latest trends. Technology forms a central part of their strategy and is the primary consideration when planning a campaign. 

Hybrid Technologists:

They embrace technology, but are unlikely to be as aware of updates in the market as ‘revolutionists’. They often take the middle ground with strategy development and base decisions around strategy or technology on a case-by-case basis. They show interest in automation and generally grasp its benefits.

Attitudes towards technology

As you can see from the table below, as many as 94% of Technology Reformists say they rely on technology but don’t live their lives by it, leaving just 6% in the ‘I love technology’ camp.

Surprisingly it’s within the Hybrid Technologists where we find the 1% of technophobes.

Level of technology’s importance in the marketing mix

12% of technology reformists believe technology is not important in their company’s marketing mix, whereas 100% of technology revolutionists think it is massively important and the driver of all other elements.

The perceived benefits of automation

74% of marketers believe automation saves time, unfortunately the problem with this is that this common belief is unfounded. Implementing automated technology can require significant resources in order to produce results.

Despite recognising the benefits, the respondents also acknowledge that there are potential barriers to implementing automated technologies. The biggest barriers are: data integration (34%), technology shortfall (26%) and a lack of skills or experience (18%).

For more information, download the report from Adestra (registration required).

For a beginner’s guide to marketing automation, check out What is marketing automation and why do you need it? and also these six case studies and an infographic on how automation improves sales and revenue.