CloudShift Blog
State of Marketing 9 Takeaways
The third annual “State of Marketing” report was recently published by Salesforce Research. Nearly 4,000 marketing leaders (not limited to Salesforce customers) worldwide were surveyed to help explain
- Overall trends changing the role of marketing
- How high-performing marketing teams approach marketing intelligence and customer experience
- Key insights on primary digital marketing channels
We at CloudShift were delighted to see proof of what we already know and embrace in our business, the role of a Marketer has indeed changed and for many small and medium businesses, the urgency of staying relevant and ahead of the pack comes down to having the right tools. Included in the report is a brief overview of nine prominent findings from the research which we thought we’d share with you. State of Marketing 9 Takeaways brief overview text has been taken directly from Salesforce 2016 State of Marketing Annual Report.
- Top marketing teams win with a customer journey strategy
High preforming marketing teams are 8.8x more likely than underperformers to strongly agree that they’ve adopted a customer journey strategy as part of their overall business strategy. Successful marketers are connecting with customers in new ways across mobile, email, social, and the Web. Seventy-three percent say that a customer journey strategy has positively impacted overall customer engagement – the second biggest priority for marketers this year.
- Top marketing teams are integrating the customer experience
Successful marketing leaders are crossing the boundaries of business units to create a single view of the customer. High-preforming marketing teams are
7.7x more likely than underperformers to strongly agree they’re leading customer experience initiatives across the business – bridging the gap between marketing, sales and service. Sixty-four percent of top teams also say they are excellent at creating a single view of the customer, versus only 4% of underperformers.
- Top marketing teams get smart with tech adoption
To keep pace with a dynamic industry and continually make marketing communications smarter, 72% of top teams will increase spending on marketing tools and tech in the next two years. Fifty-three percent of high performers qualify as heavy tech adopters, compared to only 7% of underperformers. Top teams are more likely to extensively use marketing analytics and predictive intelligence, among other tools.
- Top marketing teams align with business leadership
The world’s best marketing teams have buy-in from company leaders. As such, marketing budgets are more likely to be prioritised. Eighty-three percent of high performers say their executive team is completely committed to supporting the overall marketing strategy, compared to only 31% of underperformers.
- Real-time channel orchestration strikes a chord.
Leading marketers understand the value of a cross-channel approach. In fact, top teams are 3.2x more likely than underperformers to strongly agree they’ve integrated their social media activity into their overall marketing strategy
(3.4x more likely for integrating email marketing and 5x more likely for mobile marketing). Among high performers who have integrated their digital marketing channels with their overall marketing, at least 95% rate the integrations are very effective or effective.
- Mobile momentum hits a tipping point.
From 2015 to 2016, every aspect of mobile covered in this research has risen significantly in usage. This growth encompasses both mobile as a marketing platform (such as mobile apps) and mobile as a marketing channel (such as SMS). With 98% growth in mobile app usage and 111% growth in SMS usage, a majority of marketers are now using these mainstream mobile tactics to engage customers.
- Intelligent email is driving higher revenue.
As email personalization capabilities grow more sophisticated, the channel becomes even more integral for marketers to deliver a holistic customer journey. Top teams are 4.2x more likely than underperformers to leverage predictive intelligence or data science to create personalized emails. Forty-nine percent of marketers say email is directly linked to their business’ primary revenue source — a notable jump from the 20% of marketers who said the same in 2015.
- Social sees massive ROI growth.
Last year, three of the top five areas where marketers planned to increase their spending involved social outlets. Now, those investments appear to be paying off; 75% of marketing leaders report that social is generating ROI. Top teams are also 1.7x more likely than underperformers to align their social media marketing strategy with other social activities such as customer service, pursuing a more unified customer view.
- Advertising accelerates on social platforms.
Nearly two-thirds of marketers are boosting budgets for advertising on social platforms in 2016, making it the third largest area for increased investment. Among high performers, 80% will increase spending on advertising on social platforms. In order to create a unique experience based on real customer identity, 83% of top teams use customer data (e.g., email or phone data) to segment or target ads.
From the nine takeaways, we see how marketing has shifted focus to be more social, digital and customer related. It is not about getting the leads and generating the sales anymore, a marketer’s job has now become more about keeping the existing contact or customer happy, engaged and updated.
With so many choices available to consumers these days, CloudShift sees the importance of using different channels like social media and other digital platforms to communicate. It is important to be one step ahead of competitors and look at ways of how you can support your marketing team to work more effectively in the market.
Marketing Cloud from Salesforce gives your marketing team the ability to build and manage the Customer experience and journey across all channels to ensure you always deliver the right communication at the right time. CloudShift can implement a bespoke system to fit your needs. There are several options available including
- Email, mobile and web marketing – with Exact Target
- Social media marketing and listening – with social studio
- Digital Advertising – with Social.com
- B2B Marketing Automation – with Pardot
CloudShift understands the importance of being in the know when it comes to running a successful marketing campaign. Reach your full potential. Contact our talented team today to discuss your requirements.
