The Marketer’s Survival Guide: How UK marketers can stop surviving and start thriving

When stakes are high and certainty is low, the instinct is to gather as much as you can. For marketers, that’s been more of everything. More tools. More processes. More AI. After all, it might save your life. 

But every survival expert knows carrying too much won't get you very far. Before long, the wrong tools and the endless admin will weigh you down. 

At a time when three in four marketers say they're trapped in "survival mode," we surveyed 100 UK marketers and 1,000 UK consumers to understand why. 

We wanted to find out how marketing ended up here and, most importantly, what’s pulling people back out.

 

Marketing SOS

Marketers are sending up a flare. In fact, three quarters (74%) say the industry is in “survival mode.” With the pressure mounting from an ever-increasing amount of ad-hoc demands, marketers spend so much time reacting that strategic thinking barely gets a turn.  

  • 72% say they personally spend too much time stuck in survival mode and reacting to demands and requests. 
  • 54% say they move from campaign to campaign without enough time to properly evaluate performance. 
  • Half of marketers (51%) feel like they’re stuck in a cycle of constant execution without a comprehensive strategy. 
  • Three-fifths (60%) say that the pressure to deliver results with fewer resources has increased. 

Last year, it was “do more with less.” This year, it’s “do more, do it better, and do it faster!” even though many of the issues that undermine their work still haven’t been addressed. 

72%

spend too much time stuck in survival mode

51%

feel like they’re stuck in a cycle of constant execution

60%

say that the pressure to deliver results with fewer resources has increased

A sea of meetings, metrics, and admin

Admin is pulling marketers under. Whether it’s managing internal processes, juggling tools, or even joining meetings to justify the value of their work, marketers are spending more of the week on work that isn’t marketing. 

  • Nearly half of marketers (45%) spend at least a quarter of their week on low-value admin. And 14% spend more than half. 
  • Two-thirds of marketers (66%) say managing multiple tools and platforms creates unnecessary work. 
  • Seven in ten marketers (70%) say admin makes peak campaign periods significantly more stressful. 

The majority of marketers (59%) report that the amount of admin has increased over the last three years, and a third (31%) say it’s increased “dramatically.” When asked where this higher demand is stemming from,  

  • 67% say reporting demands have increased 
  • 66% say the volume of meetings has increased 
  • 64% say time spent proving their value has increased  
  • 61% say time spent justifying budgets and spend has increased 
  • 57% say the complexity of the approvals process has increased 
Chart data
Source of increased admin% saying it has increased
Reporting demands67%
Volume of meetings66%
Time spent proving value64%
Justifying budgets and spend61%
Complexity of approvals57%

Standards are slipping

The more time admin takes, the less time marketers have for strategy, experimentation, and creative thinking. And it’s affecting their campaigns. 

  • Three-in-five marketers (60%) have had to scale back or simplify campaigns due to admin and process constraints. 
  • That same proportion (60%) often has to launch campaigns without the time or data needed to optimize them.
  • 64% agree that admin and unnecessary meetings limit their ability to test and experiment with new marketing ideas. 

When it comes to more timely opportunities, battling process bottlenecks and balancing side-work means campaigns launch late — or sometimes not at all. 

  • More than half of marketers (56%) have missed key moments during major events because they couldn’t move fast enough internally. 
  • 54% have had a major seasonal campaign (Christmas, Black Friday, etc.) launch late due to poor processes and admin overload.
  • The majority (57%) say they have been unable to react in real time to trends or live events due to internal bottlenecks.
  • 57% are forced to prioritize execution over experimentation during major seasonal campaigns. 
60%

launch campaigns without the time or data needed to optimize them

54%

have had a major seasonal campaign launch late due to poor processes and admin overload

Campaigns aren’t the only casualty of marketing’s admin overload. Marketers themselves are feeling the strain. Two-thirds (66%) say the amount of unnecessary work in their role is mentally draining. 

When asked about the impact of time spent on administrative or low-value work, 

  • 95% say it limits their ability to develop campaign strategy and planning 
  • 89% say it limits their ability to think creatively and generate new ideas 
  • 87% say it limits their ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues 
  • 87% say it limits their ability to run tests and experiment 
  • 83% say it limits their ability to analyze performance and generate insights 
  • 83% say it limits their ability to learn and develop professionally 
Chart data
What admin limits% affected
Campaign strategy and planning95%
Creative thinking and new ideas89%
Collaboration with colleagues87%
Testing and experimentation87%
Performance analysis and insights83%
Learning and development83%

Marketers are building their own way out 

There’s good news. Marketers aren't waiting to be rescued. By turning to AI, automation, and integrated marketing platforms, UK marketers are reclaiming their time for higher-value work. 

  • The vast majority (85%) say a unified platform for content, personalization, and experimentation would dramatically improve productivity.
  • Nearly half (46%) have invested in all-in-one marketing and workflow platforms in the past year.
  • More than four-in-five (84%) say AI helps reduce manual work during major campaigns.
  • Two-fifths (43%) see better integration of AI with marketing tools as the biggest opportunity for improved efficiency and optimization.
  • Two-thirds (67%) report that AI has reduced their workload. 
43%

see better integration of AI with marketing tools as the biggest opportunity for improved efficiency and optimization

% of respondents who plan to or have invested in AI in the last 12 months

% of respondents who plan to or have invested in AI in the last 12 months
CategoryHave Invested (%)Plan to Invest (%)
AI assistants41%38%
Training to improve AI outputs42%44%
Automation to reduce manual work44%48%

AI should earn its place by making marketing simpler. But used poorly, it creates more work than it saves.  

  • 70% say their use of AI introduced new complexity to major campaigns. 
  • Nearly two in every three marketers (65%) claim marketing is stretched thinner since work was outsourced to AI.
  • A fifth (20%) state that their current adoption of AI has increased their workload.
  • 13% report no change to their overall workload due to their current use of AI. 

AI creates value when it removes work, simplifies workflows, and fits naturally into the way marketers already work. Instead of stacking disconnected tools on top of each other, businesses should invest in integrated platforms where AI is built into existing workflows rather than bolted on as another tool to manage. 

65%

claim marketing is stretched thinner since work was outsourced to AI

20%

state that their current adoption of AI has increased their workload

Consumers are drifting away 

The impact of marketing’s admin fatigue has not gone unnoticed by consumers. They’re becoming increasingly frustrated at what they see as an uptick in lower-quality marketing material. 

  • Three-quarters of consumers (75%) often receive marketing messages that are irrelevant to them. 
  • More than two-thirds (69%) often receive duplicate messages or emails from brands.
  • 69% say marketing from brands often feels generic or not tailored to them personally.
  • Three-out-of-five (61%) are overwhelmed by the volume of marketing messages they receive.
  • 56% say it’s becoming hard to find brands that market to them in a useful and engaging way. 

Consumers notice when marketing feels rushed. And they respond accordingly.  

  • Two-fifths (42%) disengage when content feels irrelevant to them. 
  • A third (35%) are more likely to unsubscribe from emails and marketing materials after poor or irrelevant marketing experiences.
  • 34% are more likely to ignore future comms after low-quality marketing experiences.

When asked what’s important to them in their ideal experience with brands, consumers said: 

  • A more human experience (47%)
  • Receiving content that is relevant to their interests (43%)
  • Personalized offers or recommendations (33%)
  • Feeling understood as a customer (33%)
  • Content that feels thoughtful and well-timed rather than rushed (28%)
  • Timely and well-targeted messages (22%) 
47%

want a more human experience

A bad AI map is worse than no map

AI should help marketers find a better route. Instead, many consumers feel brands are heading in the wrong direction, fueling a wave of AI slop. 

  • The majority of consumers (59%) say the quality of marketing content has declined in recent years. 
  • Nearly two-thirds (62%) trust marketing content less since brands started using AI. 
  • 66% say brands are prioritizing quantity of content over quality.
  • Seven-out-of-ten (72%) are more likely to engage with content if it feels human rather than automated.
  • Two-thirds (67%) find AI-generated images of people in marketing materials and ads creepy.
  • Most consumers (57%) can usually tell when content has been generated by AI. 

AI moves quickly. Bad marketing moves quickly with it. When AI is used to produce more content instead of better content, it accelerates the creation of low-quality, generic experiences. Better tools, smarter integration, and more in-depth training can help marketers use AI to create better, more relevant customer experiences. 

62%

trust marketing content less since brands started using AI

60%

say brands are prioritizing quantity of content over quality

67%

find AI-generated images of people in marketing materials and ads creepy

57%

can usually tell when content has been generated by AI

From surviving to thriving

Survival mode is what happens when good marketers spend their days chasing approvals and editing drafts instead of building something that moves the brand forward.

In 2026, marketers have to be smart about implementing technology, optimizing their workflows, and unifying their systems — for the sake of consumer sanity as well as their own. 

After all, how well your tools fit your business matters more than how many you have. 

Ready to go from surviving to thriving? Optimizely’s AI platform is built around the simple idea that marketers should be free to grow. Once the busywork and bottlenecks fade into the background, there's more room for curiosity, creativity, judgment, and ideas worth chasing. 

See how Optimizely handles the full marketing lifecycle, so teams can focus on the work only humans can do. 

Find out more at: https://www.optimizely.com/products