EConsultancy in Association with Marketo just released the State of Digital Marketing in ANZ these are the highlights:
- Nearly half (45%, up from 40% in 2013) of responding organisations saying they have increased their marketing
budgets in 2015. - Compared to 2013, the proportion of organisations increasing their marketing
budgets by more than 50% has increased by a factor of six, from 2% to 12% this year. - In terms of the types of digital marketing technology companies plan to increase investment in, customer relationship
management (CRM) emerged as most popular (43%), followed by content management systems (41%) and email platforms (36%). - Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents agree that they ‘are becoming more customer-centric as an organisation’ and 64% agree that ‘personalisation is a major marketing focus in 2015’.
- The signs of maturity in digital marketing are clear when looking at what marketers have come to measure: in 2012, 83% of marketers considered increased traffic to website a measure of effectiveness; in 2015 61% do so. Use of increased sales as a metric has also declined, from 76% in 2012 to 65% in 2015.
- There’s no doubt that technology will play a key role in developing this customer-centric focus, with respondents almost unanimously (96% of client-side respondents, 93% of agencies) agreeing that ‘a good understanding of technology is critical for senior marketing leaders’.
- When asked to indicate what is hindering organisations from investing more money in digital marketing, respondents were keen to stress that lack of staff is now the biggest bottleneck, with 44% of respondents reporting it as the biggest barrier (up from 35% in 2013 and 34% in 2012).