UK marketers say industry is stuck in survival mode

Optimizely has published research showing that 74% of UK marketers believe the industry is stuck in "survival mode".

The findings are based on a survey of 100 UK marketers.

The research suggests marketing teams spend much of their time responding to immediate demands rather than building longer-term plans. It found that 64% of respondents spend most of their time reacting to short-term requests, while 54% move from one campaign to the next without enough time to assess results properly.

That pressure appears to extend beyond team structures to individual workloads. Nearly three quarters, or 72%, said they personally spend too much time in survival mode, while 51% feel locked into constant execution without a comprehensive strategy.

Rising admin

The data also suggests routine operational work has increased. Almost six in 10 marketers, or 59%, said the amount of administration they handle has grown over the past three years, with 31% saying it has risen dramatically.

The findings add to a wider debate in the marketing industry over whether new technology is reducing workloads or simply shifting them. Although artificial intelligence tools have been adopted across many parts of marketing, the survey indicates that many practitioners still feel constrained by fragmented processes and day-to-day operational demands.

Tara Corey, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Optimizely, said the problem was not a lack of creative ambition within teams, but a lack of time and working conditions that would allow that ambition to be realised.

"Operating in survival mode might get a campaign over the line, but it's not how great marketing gets made," said Tara Corey, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Optimizely. "What this research shows is that the ambition is still there, and so is the creativity. But too often, teams are stuck in ways of working that leave very little room for either. Businesses need to build the conditions for their marketing teams to thrive, not just survive."

Search for fixes

Despite the pressures described in the report, respondents also pointed to areas where operations could improve. A large majority, 85%, said a unified platform for content, personalisation and experimentation would dramatically improve productivity.

Another 43% said better integration of AI with marketing tools represented the biggest opportunity to improve efficiency. The results suggest marketers are not rejecting automation or AI, but looking for systems that fit more closely into everyday workflows.

Many businesses appear to be taking steps in that direction. The survey found that 46% of marketers said their organisation had invested in all-in-one marketing and workflow platforms over the past year, while 44% said more automation had been introduced to reduce manual work.

Those figures point to an industry trying to close the gap between the promise of new tools and the reality of how teams operate. Marketers are under pressure to produce campaigns quickly, report on performance and manage growing volumes of administrative work, often at the expense of planning, testing and reflection.

The report also suggests the problem is not limited to isolated teams or specific sectors. With nearly three quarters of respondents saying the industry as a whole is in survival mode, the research presents the issue as a broad structural concern rather than a temporary period of strain.

For employers, the data may raise questions about team design, workflow management and the effectiveness of current marketing technology estates. If marketers continue to spend much of their week responding to short-term requests, businesses may struggle to create the conditions needed for more deliberate brand and campaign development.

At the same time, the survey points to a workforce that still sees practical routes to change. Strong support for more integrated platforms and better-connected AI tools suggests many marketers believe the answer lies less in adding more software and more in reducing operational friction between the tools they already use.