New research shows key concerns of CMOs in modern marketing

It’s fair to say that marketing jobs vary quite drastically. I get to see that from an agency perspective every day. Where one marketer may get applauded in one organisation, the same actions in a different organisation might get them fired. It’s not as though there’s a ‘right’ answer to the marketing challenge, either. There are so many variables - market, brand age, business size, product, budget, belief systems and biases, let alone the senior management.

That said, with marketing evolving at breakneck speed, in the wake of changes in consumer behaviour and technology adoption, it’s always useful to look at what’s got the attention of other marketers to help inform our priorities.

Research source and methodology

In this new research by Deloitte and ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, they’ve distilled the responses down to the key drivers. Quick caveat: Let’s take this for what it is,…

An update on 10 major changes in LinkedIn that B2B marketers and professional users need to be aware of

LinkedIn is one of the fastest growing social networks, it recently announced that in March 2014 it had over a quarter of a billion members of which 66% are outside the United States:

85M+ EMEA65M+ Europe50M+ Asia and the Pacific9M+ Southeast Asia4M+ DACH​10M+ MENA

So, LinkedIn demands attention for professional use to advance your career and if you're involved in B2B marketing. If you’re looking to catch up on the changes in LinkedIn, here is a quick summary of the features that LinkedIn has added (as well as dropped) during the last 12 months

1. Status updates re-located: It is no longer possible to post status updates on your profile. Updates can only be posted on the home screen…

Our interview with Michael Welch of Blackcircles.com

Michael Welch created Blackcircles.com as a new way for consumers to buy tyres at competitive prices either over the Internet or on the telephone. From the site, consumers can find the best deal from a network of over 1,000 local dealerships. Blackcircles.com now has a turnover of £18 million and is growing rapidly, so we thought it would be interesting to learn the approaches its founder, Michael Welch has used to grow and sustain the business. Thanks Mike for sharing your story!

Key success factors for the business

Q1. Which factors do you put the initial success of Blackcircles.com down to? At the very beginning it was mainly about hard work, determination and not ‘taking no for an answer’. If I’m honest there was no real difference between me…

Should we start using Universal Analytics now it's out of Beta?

This post was prompted by a question in our from from an agency advising a publishing company asking whether they should use Classic Google Analytics or the new Universal Analytics in future.

April 2nd 2014 update - Universal Analytics now out of public beta

It’s a timely question since Google's Universal Analytics is now out of Beta. We're alerting you to this since this now means there is feature parity between Google Analytics and Universal Analytics. According to Google: "Bringing Universal Analytics out of beta means that all the features, reports, and tools of Classic Analytics are now available in the product, including Remarketing and Audience reporting".

When will update to Universal Analytics become mandatory

Google's update doesn't mention if and when classic Google Analytics will be required although they have said that the intent is that all users will eventually have to upgrade to…

Research showing how brands can struggle with the real-time challenge

In theory, real-time marketing seems straightforward. Follow the trends, be responsive to the interests of your audiences and build a live, relevant relationship with them. In practice, real-time marketing is not quite so easy though. Combining real-time online PR and social media marketing and integrating it with offline communications is time, resource and investment intensive. In the latest benchmark report from immediate future, ‘In The Social Moment’, our research shows the practical hurdles of managing real-time marketing. It seems the struggle is more operational than about the risk to reputation... It’s the everyday management, processes, technology and people, that is proving to be difficult. Most of the report’s survey respondents came from well-known, established brands. Brands with complex structures and traditional ways of working. The results reflect the…

Our roundup of the latest developments and advice in Modern Marketing

Earlier in March, CERN celebrated 25 years of the World Wide Web. So, it’s official, we can no longer call new media “new”. Yet despite the opportunities for digital media to deliver more relevant, contextual, responsive communications, a common theme in this roundup is that options for targeting through digital marketing are not being fully exploited by many.

Strategy and planning

76% of marketers don’t use behavioural data - this is the shocking finding in this new research from Razorfish. Reviewing the implications of this, Dan Bosomworth gives his 5 recommendations for a real-time marketing blueprint.

Digital Marketing budget allocations 2014 - this summary shows the proportion of marketing budget allocated to digital channels. There is a huge range in % spend on digital according to business sector and maturity. How much of your budget is allocated to digital media?

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Are you ‘Always On’ and marketing in real-time?

A new Adobe sponsored Razorfish study, The State of Always-On Marketing surveyed 685 ‘C-suite executives’ to reveal that 76% of marketers do not make use of segmented or behavioural data in their marketing. “Razorfish defines Always-On Marketing as data-driven, content-led experiences, delivered across channels and devices in real time."

Some other key insight from the research

Less than 5% believe that they are managing experiences for an “always-on” consumer Only 38% believed they are capable of targeting prospects versus returning customers Just 13% feel that their companies are pushing segmented experiences and measuring the results "“Regardless of channel type, there is a huge difference between spending money on speaking to someone who is never going to buy your product or service versus investing in speaking to someone who is likely to convert or influence other converters”. Pete Stein, CEO of Razorfish, New York Sounds high? Probably, but is it…

Which channels matter most today? An analysis of the effectiveness of 40+ marketing channels

Several months ago, I created a simple spreadsheet of 40+ marketing channels available to marketers to reach and influence consumers today. I shared this on the Smart Insights blog and readers added to my base list - thank you for the recommendations! In this article, starting with the original channels, I've added attribute data about each channel to provide a better picture of channel versatility, cost, purpose and function. This blog post will cover an analysis of a new all channel spreadsheet available via my site to determine which are the best channels for functionality and value.

Cross-functional channels

Venn Diagram

The four segments in this Venn diagram show the functional intersections for channels used for different types of customer interactions. The four functional categories are: Marketing, can the channel be used to market to customers? Service,…

A summary of new research showing the level of investment in digital marketing in 2014

It's always useful to be able to compare the way your marketing budget is divided between different digital tactics. Particularly if changes in allocation are highlighted and ideally if the budgets are for similar companies.

The fifth annual international survey from Econsultancy and Responsys Marketing Budgets 2014 helps with the first question. Over 600 businesses participated in the survey, note that some of these were agencies estimating their clients' investments.

This summary post includes what I believe to be the three most useful insights from the report Marketing Budgets 2014: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation Report.

Proportion of marketing budget allocated to digital channels

[caption id="attachment_35349" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Proportion of marketing budget spent on digital marketing. Source: Econsultancy 2014.[/caption]

This chart suggests that if you are…

How to create an uncontested market place by repositioning your brand in the digital world

A number of well recognised brands have disappeared over the last few years such as Blockbuster, Woolworths, Compaq, Republic and Jessops - all recognised brands who at one stage were market leaders. So what's the common thread of these well-established traditional retailers not managing to re-invent themselves as a digital brand? 'Dont find customers for your products, find products for your customers; putting the customer at the centre of the conversation by interacting, engaging and using their feedback to steer new opportunities to satisfy and delight users (e.g. Threadless, Apple, 37Signals). The removal of the 'us v them' mentality and building one to one communication with their customers through the use of social media. Digital disruption - Start-ups who were prepared to take on the big brands and re-invent traditional markets by eliminating running costs, reducing value chains and doing…