http://youtu.be/rzXUHXNMrlA
Developing
a dynamic and cohesive marketing strategy has become essential for businesses
that want to profit in today’s competitive marketplace. While some business
owners believe that they don’t need to implement strong digital marketing
strategies to be successful, their customers are increasingly turning to the
Internet to inform their purchase decisions.
Several
trends are shaping the direction of digital marketing in 2014 and beyond; aside
from increasing mobile adoption (which is fueling the growth of m-commerce), an
increasing number of consumers are becoming multi-platform users.
Multi-platform users are consumers who use both mobile and desktop devices to
consume digital media. According to comScore’s “2014 U.S. Digital Future in
Focus,” multi-platform users
became the majority of digital media consumers in the United States in April 2013, representing 56% of
digital media consumers.
Meanwhile, the growth and influence of social
media websites—such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn—have
transformed strategic social media marketing, turning it into a vital and
lucrative aspect of digital marketing. Consequentially, many of the largest
companies are evolving enterprise class social media marketing platforms and
infrastructure to help them consolidate their social media marketing campaigns
.
Different B2B, B2C, and mixed B2B and B2C
companies understand that if they want to expand their brands, increase their
sales, and grow their businesses quickly, they need to invest money into their
digital marketing efforts. Both your prospects and existing customers have
moved online, where they’re actively searching for different products and
services, and are reading the recommendations of friends and other consumers.
Businesses that aren’t visible in the online world will lose out to savvier
businesses that have increased the focus and intensity of their digital
marketing efforts.
Your Competitors are Increasing their Overall Marketing BudgetsThe latest reports indicate that more marketers are
increasing their overall marketing budgets in 2014 than maintaining or
decreasing their overall marketing budgets. According to the fifth annual
Marketing Budgets Report, which was published by Econsultancy and sponsored by
Responsys, 60% of client-side respondents say their companies are increasing
their overall marketing budgets in 2014—which is significantly higher compared
to 54% in 2013 and 45% in 2012.
The same report stated that 34% of client-side
respondents say their companies are maintaining the same overall marketing
budgets for 2014, while only 6% of client-side respondents say their companies
are decreasing their overall marketing budgets for 2014.
Forty-four percent of supply-side respondents say
their clients are increasing their overall marketing budgets in 2014—up from
39% in 2013 and 30% in 2012. As for digital marketing budgets, the number of
companies increasing their spending has been remarkably consistent since 2009,
and is 71% this year. Digital budgets have largely been insulated from spending
cuts as more companies focus on their digital channels to drive business
growth, as well as leads and sales conversions.
Meanwhile, only 20% of companies are planning to
increase their traditional (offline) marketing budgets in 2014, with 55% of
companies planning to keep their traditional (offline) marketing budgets the
same over the next year
.
As for the average increase in overall marketing
budgets, the fifth annual Marketing Budgets Report stated that companies will
be increasing their overall marketing budgets by an average of 26% in 2014.
Meanwhile, approximately three in every four companies (73%) stated that they
will be increasing their budgets by up to 30% this year.
Budget Allocation across
Digital Marketing ChannelsWhen
it comes to budget allocation, the lion’s share of budget increases will go to
content marketing, followed by SEO and mobile marketing for acquisition in
2014. According to the fifth annual Marketing Budgets Report, 74% of
client-side responding companies stated they will be increasing their content
marketing budgets in 2014, 63% stated they will be increasing their search
engine optimization budgets in 2014, and 63% stated they will be increasing
their mobile marketing budgets in 2014.
On
the other hand, the digital channels marketers will most likely be decreasing
their expenditure in 2014 are paid search and online display advertising for
acquisition/engagement. Meanwhile, the majority of supply-side respondents
stated that their clients are planning to increase their budgets in content
marketing (80%), mobile marketing for acquisition (67%), and mobile marketing
for engagement/retention (61%) in 2014.
According to Gartner's Digital Marketing
Spending Survey, overall expenditure for digital advertising will grow in 2014
as brands, ad agencies, and publishers invest in diversified channels in order
to deliver more relevant advertising to target audiences. The use of
programmatic media, which allows marketers to target their desired audience and
automate bidding rules for ads based on the business value they deliver, is a
major impetus for this growth.
Content Marketing Expenditure is on the Rise for B2C and B2B Marketers
High-quality
content will become increasingly vital to the success of businesses in 2014, as
consumers use search engines to look for products and services, and find the
answers to their queries. Leads on the lookout for particular products and
services use the Internet as their first port of call; they check out business
websites and social media profiles, and sign up for newsletters to get more
valuable information.
According to the Content Marketing
Institute’s “B2C Content Marketing 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends”
report, 90% of B2C marketers are using content marketing this year, compared
with 86% last year. Furthermore, 60% of B2C marketers are planning to increase
their content marketing budget over the next 12 months. Of this percentage, 15%
are planning to significantly increase their content marketing budgets over the
next 12 months.
As for B2B marketers,
according to the Content Marketing Institute’s “B2B Content Marketing 2014
Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends” report, 93% of B2B marketers are using content
marketing in 2014, compared with 91% last year. 58% of B2B marketers are planning to increase their
content marketing budget over the next 12 months, while more B2B marketers are
planning to increase their content marketing budgets in 2014, compared with
last year (54%).
The Content Marketing
Institute’s report also stated that all B2B marketers are planning to increase
their content marketing spending at similar rates—even marketers who rate
themselves as “least effective”. Meanwhile, more small companies (with 10-99
employees) than large companies (with 1,000 or more employees) are planning to
increase their content marketing budgets over the next 12 months (60% versus
52%).
Marketers are Focusing on Acquisition Rather than Engagement/Retention
Marketing
According
to the fifth annual Marketing Budgets Report, 34% of client-side respondents
said they were investing more in acquisition marketing rather than
engagement/retention marketing in 2014. This percentage is slightly higher than
in 2013, when 31% of client-side respondents said they were investing more in
acquisition rather than engagement/retention marketing. This modest boost in
acquisition marketing can be partially attributed to the more positive economic
climate and the corresponding increase in marketing budgets.
Only
18% of client-side respondents said they were investing more in
engagement/retention marketing rather than acquisition marketing in 2014. This
was a slight drop from 2013, when 24% of client-side respondents said they were
investing more in engagement/retention marketing rather than acquisition marketing.
Adjust your Marketing
Budget Accordingly to Industry Growth to Fuel your own GrowthBusinesses that want to expand their brands,
increase their sales, and grow their businesses quickly will need to calibrate
their marketing budgets accordingly to meet these goals. The majority of your
competitors are increasing their overall marketing budgets, especially in
digital channels like content marketing, search engine optimization, mobile
marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing.
Unfortunately, doing exactly what your
competitors are doing won’t be enough. If you want to surpass your competitors, you’ll need
to hire a professional digital marketing agency with a proven track record of success and years of experience.
In other words, you should hire us!
We’ll help you identify the ideal marketing
budget for your organization in order to drive your marketing objectives and
business goals. By establishing an optimal marketing budget, your business will
become more competitive and profitable in an increasingly cutthroat
marketplace.
We’ll also develop a dynamic marketing strategy for your business
that will drive growth, boost your profits, expand your brand online, and
increase your leads and sales conversions.
Contact
our professional digital marketing agency, and get first-rate consultation and
digital marketing services from the experts.Call us now 202.670.0734, or send us an email today@uemarketingagency.com to
sign up with us today and take your business to new heights!
