Investment in data driven marketing continues to rise, survey notes
Data driven marketing is paying off and marketers are putting more dollars behind their data-driven marketing efforts according to a recent survey with 40.9 per cent of US marketing professionals surveyed saying their organizations’ revenues from data-driven marketing activities grew at least somewhat this year so far.
The majority of marketers plan on continuing to invest in data-driven marketing, the survey notes with 51.8 per cent saying they expect a boost in returns. Additionally, another 41.8 per cent said they foresee no change to revenue, which leaves a mere 6.5 per cent who predict a slump.
Meanwhile, spending on data-driven marketing is on a similar track. While most of the respondents said there was no change in their investment between Q1 and Q2 2016, spend on this type of marketing has increased. According to the survey, roughly a third (32.4 per cent) of the marketers polled said their organization contributed more dollars quarter-over-quarter.
Additionally, this uptick in spend is expected to continue into Q3. According to the data, 39 per cent plan to increase investment in data-driven marketing somewhat or significantly compared to Q2.
Overall, spending on marketing technology — key to data-driven efforts — continues to grow worldwide. Advertising and marketing professionals outlined loftier spending increases on data-driven activities in 2016 vs. the year prior.
Additionally, 68.6 per cent planned to up their spend this year, compared to 56.3 per cent in 2015, the survey notes.
It is clear that marketing technology has been top of mind for many marketing professionals for some time now, and many are shifting more budget and attention to it.
Data from Rocket Fuel found that two marketing trends likely to see more activity this year are programmatic buying of TV and data management platforms (DMPs).
Further, more than three-quarters of U.S. senior marketers feel that understanding marketing technology has become increasingly important to their success. Nearly two-thirds of senior marketers in Western Europe feel the same way.
Marketer-aligned data and analytics technology company DataXu, Morar Consulting and WithPR surveyed 532 senior marketers from the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Respondents held senior roles including chief marketing technologist, CMO, director of marketing, head of marketing, marketing manager and VP of marketing.
In total, more than two-thirds of respondents in the US and Western Europe said understanding of marketing technology is becoming an increasingly important skill for successful senior marketers. This skill set was identified as the second most important only to creativity — and ranked slightly higher than other skills such as understanding digital media and managing people.