This is not a reflection on Salesforce, Pardot, Marketo, Eloqua et al. 

It is just the frustration of having marketing operations focus on the technology and still not tackle the most important piece- the data. Often there is no budget left for this important piece. 

I remember when I was marketing at Cadbury it was drummed into us marketeers that 50% of success (actual sales) came from "good, relevant data", 25% from the message and just 25% from the actual product itself. I can't remember the author - does anyone?

Looking at marketing in action I sometimes believe campaigns start from the wrong end.