Biggest Marketing Challenges Leaders Face

In today's ultra competitive digital-first world, best-in-class marketing leaders are facing new challenges. Learn more.

Published: 
May 17, 2025
3 min read
Top Marketing Challenges for Marketing Leaders - 2022
Expert Contributors
Partner & Executive Strategist
Share This Article

Challenges faced by marketers

Marketing Leaders are facing new challenges with historic pressure to deliver more value with less resources. From decreasing budgets, to changing consumer behaviors, the stakes have never been higher for leaders to make smarter, faster marketing decisions. Here are the biggest challenges faced by marketers today.

Top Marketing Challenges

  • Decreasing Budgets: Average Marketing budgets fell from 11% of revenue in 2020 to 6.4% in 2021
  • Move To In-House: CMOs are reporting that 29% of work previously executed by agencies has moved in-house.
  • Changing Consumers: 56% of consumers report spending less time in-stores, while digital spending grew by 55%
  • Great Resignation: In November 2021 a record 4.5 million workers left their jobs as part of the great resignation.

With all of these competing priorities, it can be hard to determine where to invest your team’s time and resources, or even get a full understanding of how your performance compares to your industry and competitors.

Challenges of digital marketing

In today's ultra competitive “digital-first” world, best-in-class marketing leaders understand that there is no longer a difference between digital marketing and traditional marketing. It’s all marketing. Unfortunately, teams are struggling with creating and executing on effective digital marketing strategies.

At our firm we see a lot of new and experienced marketing leaders flying blind, making budgeting and resourcing decisions based on their guts or half baked data built on assumptions. 

Marketing Leaders need reliable benchmark data to help act as a guiding light for making better decisions, faster.

RELATED: Digital Marketing Audit and Benchmarking Your Brand's Performance

How do you overcome marketing challenges?

Our Digital Marketing Benchmark Audit with competitive intel helps leaders prioritize digital investment according to their biggest digital marketing opportunities. 

When combined with our Five Ps Framework assessment and team survey, marketing leaders can get a 360 degree view of their marketing strategy and operational effectiveness. Your audit will unlock the answers to questions around competitive benchmarking, budget allocation, team development, strategic roadmapping, and transformative growth.

If you’re looking for an expert, unbiased, outside perspective based on real benchmark data, that can reduce the audit process from several months to several weeks - Fratzke is the partner for you. Visit our Digital Marketing Benchmark Audit page to learn more, and submit a contact form. We look forward to connecting with you.

GET STARTED: Schedule a call to learn about our Digital Marketing Benchmark Audit
About The Contributors

James Fratzke is a Partner and Executive Strategist at Fratzke with more than a decade of experience helping mid-market and enterprise organizations improve their digital marketing strategies, customer experiences, and marketing operations. His work spans digital marketing audits, competitive benchmarking, performance measurement, strategic growth planning, and leading enterprise website design and development initiatives for brands including Disney, Dollar Tree, Patagonia, Advance Auto Parts, Ferguson, Jelly Belly, Pentair, and Crocs. James has contributed to or been featured in publications including Forbes and the Orange County Register, has spoken at industry events, and serves on the CSUF College of Business and Economics Executive Council. View Full Profile.

White letter F on a purple background.

Fratzke is a top-rated strategic agency that helps mid-market and enterprise brands spark growth through customer insights, brand strategy, marketing, and creating digital experiences. Since our founding in 2017, we've worked with leading brands across industries including Razer, TopBuild, REI, DTS, and TiVo, partnering from research and strategy through implementation. We combine data, technology, and human-centered storytelling to help brands better understand their customers, strengthen their market position, and create consistent growth over time. Learn More.

Get Our Newsletter

Your competitive edge starts here. Get our latest insights sent directly to your inbox.