1. GETTING READY FOR 2022
THE STATE OF MARKETING PLANNING

2. • Marketing planning and execution management are business
practices and processes that are foundational to achieving
marketing results, whether your desired outcomes are revenue,
ROI, or as specific as channel performance.
• There are established best-practices that are widely
acknowledged to support the achievement of better outcomes
like using data insights to inform decisions and agile execution.
• How widely used are practices like these? How are marketing
teams planning and executing those plans? What are the
challenges and issues being faced in 2021 against a backdrop of
the COVID pandemic? We wanted to know.
• YouGov was commissioned jointly by marketing agency Yard
and attribution software Cubed to survey marketing
leaders about how they approach marketing planning
and execution.
• This is the first of what is intended to be an annual state of
marketing planning report.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
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3. Yard and Cubed commissioned YouGov to conduct an online survey
of 1,000 marketing decision makers in the UK. The sample was
derived of respondents from 800,000+ individuals who have agreed
to take part in YouGov surveys. Emails were sent to panellists
selected at random from the base sample.
In partnership with:
W H E R E I N T H E U K D O Y O U M A I N L Y W O R K ?
1,000
< 35:
35-44:
45-54:
55 >:
Research was conducted
29th
Jul
6th
Aug
to
Marketing Decision Makers
Demographics
:
69%
male
31%
female
Respondents’ age:
35 years+: 21%
Company age:
Less than 10 years: 33% 10-35 years: 45%
113
202
270
412
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Sample:

4. • 71% of marketers plan activity on an annual or Adhoc basis.
• 83% of marketers are using gut feel when it comes to making strategic
decisions.
• Only 17% of marketers’ go-to for decision making is data or analytics.
• 10 out of 20 of eCommerce Marketing Managers/Directors say they
struggle to pinpoint growth opportunities due to lack of analytical insight.
• 92% of those who struggle to pinpoint opportunities for growth say it’s
because of lack of people, time or tools.
83%
T H E S T A T E O F M A R K E T I N G P L A N N I N G – S O M E S U R P R I S I N G F I N D I N G S
of marketers are using
gut feel for strategic
decision making
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5. • Research suggests that the planning flywheel for
marketing might not be working optimally for many.
• There is often an issue with software investments
not being fully utilised, with organisations needing
to invest in optimising their software set-up and
use in order to both measure what matters
and develop actionable insights.
• A further issue of how marketing teams' approach
both planning and execution is apparent with a
broad acceptance that agile working is better - but
there’s a lack of structured agile working practices
being implemented. This means insights may not get
actioned quickly and learnings fed back to the
growth flywheel.
MARKETING
PLANNING
FLYWHEEL
Right
tools
Data
gathering
KPI
management
Tool set-up &
optimisation
G O A L S
E X E C U T I O N
L E A R N I N G S
P R I O R I T I E S
I N S I G H T S
Lagging indicators:
• Sales • Retention
• Growth • ROI
S E T T I N G Y O U R S E L F U P T O P L A N

6. of those who struggle
to pinpoint opportunities
for growth say it’s because
of lack of people, time or tools.
R E S O U R C I N G : P E O P L E , M O N E Y , T O O L S
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92%
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7. M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O E S G R E A T D A T A S C I E N C E I N F R A S T R U C T U R E L O O K L I K E ?
Dedicated inhouse team
None
Outsourced to agency
C A P A B I L I T Y
S K I L L S
P R O C E S S E S
D A T A S C I E N C E
A G I L I T Y
A T T R I B U T I O N
A N A L Y T I C S
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8. M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O E S G R E A T M A R K E T I N G A G I L I T Y L O O K L I K E ?
C A P A B I L I T Y
Agile systems, processes & culture
Long projects with moving deadlines
Stuck in BAU without sight
of priority goals
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D A T A S C I E N C E
A G I L I T Y
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S K I L L S
P R O C E S S E S
A T T R I B U T I O N
A N A L Y T I C S
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9. D A T A S C I E N C E
M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O E S G R E A T A T T R I B U T I O N L O O K L I K E ?
C A P A B I L I T Y
Multi-touch Attribution /
Machine Learning
Last click
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S K I L L S
P R O C E S S E S
A G I L I T Y
A N A L Y T I C S
A T T R I B U T I O N
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10. M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O E S G R E A T A N A L Y T I C S S E T U P L O O K L I K E ?
C A P A B I L I T Y
Adobe Analytics
Free GA
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D A T A S C I E N C E
S K I L L S
P R O C E S S E S
A G I L I T Y
A N A L Y T I C S
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Coremetrics
GA 360

11. A N A L Y T I C S
M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O E S G R E A T S K I L L S N U R T U R E L O O K L I K E ?
C A P A B I L I T Y
Monitoring for skills gap
Employee learning stagnant
Scheduled, regular employee
learning and development
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D A T A S C I E N C E
S K I L L S
P R O C E S S E S
A G I L I T Y
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A T T R I B U T I O N
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12. S K I L L S
M A T U R I T Y
W H A T D O G R E A T P R O C E S S E S L O O K L I K E ?
C A P A B I L I T Y
Plan, execute, learn
Ad hoc
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A N A L Y T I C S
D A T A S C I E N C E
P R O C E S S E S
A G I L I T Y
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13. G O A L S E T T I N G
45% of marketing leaders do not have a formal process to
set goals.
Of those that do set goals, 80% are using either KPIs,
SMART or OKRs.
Why do goals matter?
• Direction / focus
• Clear priorities
• Provide meaning to work
• Accountability
• Align execution
• Stimulate learning, collaboration and innovation
4 0 % A D H O C
2 8 % M O N T H L Y
2 3 % Q U A R T E R L Y
3 1 % A N N U A L
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14. E X E C U T I O N
'Highly successful agile transformations
typically delivered around 30% gains in
efficiency, customer satisfaction,
employee engagement, and operational
performance; made the organisation five
to ten times faster; and turbocharged
innovation.' McKinsey 2021
Complete and actionable data is needed
to direct work and measure efforts.
Without data, organisations do not know
the impact, can’t close the experiment or
carry learnings forward.
50%
of marketers are not
working in agile ways
9%
daily stand ups
6%
work in tribes
6%
work in sprints
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15. D A T A M U T U R I T Y
of marketing decision
makers’ go-to solution
for decision making is data
or analytics.
Only17%
M A T U R I N G B E N E F I T S M O D E L
Marketing Effectiveness
Attribution
Data Platform
Segment Driven CRO
Propensity-led Personalisation

16. R I S E A N D R I S E O F T H E M A R K E T I N G D A T A T E A M
eCommerce companies in UK have
an inhouse data science team
Top performers within eCommerce specifically
are consolidating their positions by being better
set-up to use data and marketing spend more
effectively.
Cubed helps marketing teams to get the data
they need to close the insight and ROI gap.
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84%
of top 50
Research conducted by Yard on the team structures of top 50 eCommerce
brands in UK.

17. M U L T I - T O U C H A T T R I B U T I O N & C U B E D
With so many channels, and types of customers, it can be hard
to know exactly where or how to focus your efforts. Or even where to
start. Multi-touch attribution (MTA) is a way to allocate credit to each
marketing touch point that preceded a conversion within a customer
journey. It provides a quantifiable evaluation of your marketing efforts
and their direct and traceable effects on revenue, allowing marketers
to report on activity and allocate budgets effectively.
Leading marketing teams are using advanced MTA models. Cubed uses a
custom MTA model built upon propensity modelling. This is based on a
neural network (advanced machine learning model) which is constantly
training, learning which user behaviours makes a person more likely to
buy.
Cubed gathers a robust amount of data about your customers –
which pages a user visits, their previous purchasing history, their
previous visits, how long they’ve been a customer, lag since last visit,
duration on site and events such as checkout started to name a few. All of
these data points are then passed to the Cubed model which makes an
informed prediction about the influence of each touchpoint. This fact
alone makes this approach far superior to others on the market.
Cubed has been transformative
for us. It has enabled us to think
smarter than even before, even
during the pandemic. Sales have
increased to an all-time high.”
Simon Boice – Head of Digital
Performance Marketing
“
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18. Yard is a UK based digital marketing agency with deep expertise in analytics set-up, attribution, budgeting and forecasting.
Yard's data teams are Cubed and Adobe implementation experts and offer several complimentary services:
Analytics Implementation
Yard have 15 years’ experience in full analytics
implementations and support in Google Analytics,
Adobe Analytics, WebTrends, IBM and Coremetrics.
Marketing Data & Analysis
Yard gives your teams the know-how to use your chosen
tech with confidence. This allows them to access and view
data seamlessly, gaining insights that inform smart
marketing decisions.
Analytics Training
Yard create and deliver tailored training, guides
and documentation for beginners and advanced users.
Use the technologies that your business has invested to their full
potential.
Marketing Data Optimisation
Yard drives customer acquisition and retention
through data optimisation, using research methods
such as A/B testing, test design and management,
rule-driven, data-driven and propensity driven
personalisation and next best action.
Data Science for Marketing
By applying data science modelling, Yard understands
online journeys and predicts future consumer behaviour.
This allows brands to serve the right content and
experiences via targeting and personalisation technologies.
K E Y S E R V I C E S I N D A T A
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19. 19
Data Insight Driven
Improvements
In Marketing
ROI & Agility
Training
Data Science
For Marketing
A N A LYT IC S
IM PLEM EN T A T IO N
M A RK ET IN G D A T A
O PT IM IS A T IO N
Marketing
Data Analysis
& Insight
Start
O P T I M I S A T I O N W O R K F L O W

20. Cubed is a multi-touch attribution software that uses machine learning to understand and predict user behaviour.
It is constantly training; learning which actions makes a person more likely to buy. This level of insight provides
brands with the data they need to lead in their market.
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How does it offer a solution to our findings?
Cubed facilitates marketing teams to work in an agile
manner. The software encourages regular planning and
full utilisation of data and analytics. Cubed aggregates
data from millions of touchpoints – and provides
genuinely actionable insights. It clearly defines the
activity brands should keep, start and stop doing,
creating a stream of agile marketing experiments
to ensure continual test and learn.
Teams are formulated to optimise activity based on
growth opportunities and identify then resolve gaps
should they occur, whether they be in terms of skills,
time or tools. No revenue opportunity is left untapped.
From campaigns to keywords, affiliates to SEO, brands
are positioned to put budget where marketing
performs. The true value of each channel is made
clear, making both investing and forecasting easier.
This allows investment in the channels, campaigns,
ads, content and affiliates with the highest ROI potential.

21. Alternatively, if you’d like to see Cubed in action simply > R E Q U E S T A D E M O
If you’d like to find out more about Cubed or the
data services Yard offer, we’d love to hear from you.
N E X T S T E P S
info@cubed.email
hello@yarddigital.com