May 29, 2012

Digital Marketing Tops Strategic Agenda of Top Execs

In a new study from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, senior marketers report digital marketing has become a key topic of conversation and strategic agenda item with C-level executives and line-of-business (LOB) leaders. However, most marketers appear to be struggling to move beyond the use of tactical point solutions to more integrated, fully deployed platforms supporting multiple marketing applications.

Just 9 percent of more than 200 global marketers surveyed by the CMO Council in its "Integrate to Accelerate Digital Marketing Value" study say they have a highly evolved digital marketing model with a proven and clear path of evolution. This compares to 36 percent who report a random embrace of marketing point solutions that are not well integrated or unified.

It appears most corporate management teams are fully supportive of digital marketing investments, with 20 percent of marketers stating they have a mandate and budget to execute, 42 percent saying they have strong interest and active support at a LOB level, and 18 percent noting it is an agenda item they have to address with their CEO, CIO, and CFO. On the other hand, some 23 percent of survey participants report their management is still trying to understand where digital marketing fits within their overall business.

Management enthusiasm is clearly influenced by the perceived benefits of digital marketing deployment. According to 63 percent of respondents, management's interest in digital marketing migration has much to do with its potential to increase marketing performance and ROI through more efficient digital media channels and better customer engagement. In addition, 49 percent of marketers believe management is also responding to the preference of customers for digital media consumption and live, on-demand interaction with brands and companies.

"Clearly, there are lots of pins without the right pincushion to ensure digital marketing initiatives have the right underlying strategy, architecture, and technology infrastructure to meet management expectations," notes Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. "One of these is the promise of greater productivity, visibility, and accountability in marketing, which 49 percent of marketers noted was a key driver of management interest."

When asked which digital marketing processes and functions had the most appeal to management and LOB leaders, top selections included:

Customer data integration, analytics, and personalization of market interactions (62 percent);
Lead acquisition, conversion, and upselling/cross-selling of customers (60 percent);
Web site performance improvement and richer engagement (61 percent);
Behavior-based insight gathering for more effective segmentation and messaging (41 percent); and
Search marketing and online advertising (39 percent).

When it comes to assessing which digital marketing platforms, solutions, and channels will provide the most value and business gain, marketers tend to look inward to their own teams to determine needs and priorities (59 percent) rather than teaming with IT to specify requirements (32 percent). And 77 percent of marketers said their primary source for evaluating and specifying marketing technologies was their own internal team. More turned to vendors and solution providers (46 percent) than their own IT departments (42 percent). However, only 14 percent were highly satisfied with these resources.

Relative to digital marketing success, point solutions lead the way. A notable 67 percent have found email marketing most effective, followed by website performance and interface solutions (52 percent), and paid and organic search (45 percent). Top digital marketing challenges and difficulties include lack of budget and internal resources (50 percent), integrating internal and external customer data (43 percent), and deciding which marketing applications have the most value (29 percent).

"Marketers have more advanced technologies, data, and analytical tools at their disposal than at any other point. However, the capabilities and skills required to embrace this new digital dynamism in order to provide insight and sustainable business benefits are in short supply," says Jacques van Niekerk, CEO of Acceleration, a sponsor of the research. He further notes, "With sophisticated marketing endeavors, there is no silver bullet, and as we shift focus from the tactics of search, display, social, and mobile to the strategic value of customer data integration and ownership, the winners will be those who best architect and orchestrate their marketing resources around their technologies and customer data."