The research, based on a survey of more than 300 senior marketing professionals, found there was a seven-percentage point growth in respondents citing poor communication as a major issue, with 33% overall saying it impacted their work.

The most significant challenge in marketing identified in the survey was ‘limited budget’, albeit this fell eight percentage points to 47% overall.

‘Lack of data’ was in second with 46%, a three-percentage point increase on the previous year.

The proportion of marketers receiving industry-specific training by their respective employers declined 10% to 58% over the past year, the DMA added.

The DMA said the drop in industry-specific training was worrying considering the growing number of creative, data and digital skills gaps in the industry.

Ian Gibbs, director of insight at the DMA, said: “Poor internal communication continues to become of increasing concern to our industry since the pandemic began.

“Senior management teams must review this if we are to make a continued success of our new hybrid working models.”

He added: “With the upcoming changes to UK GDPR, we’re entering a new phase of data privacy regulation, likely requiring additional learning and training simply to keep up to date.

“Therefore, it is becoming increasingly integral for marketers to be well-versed in best practice of data acquisition, storage, and usage.”