Dozens of reports show statistics for trends that are lengthy and time consuming to read. Here’s the deal:
Data fun:
In 2014:
- Content marketing yielded better results than they believed it would.
- Customer experience yielded less results than they believed it would.
- Mobile marketing yielded less results than they believed it would.
- Social media yielded almost twice as many results than they believed it would.
- Multichannel campaigns yielded less results than they believed it would.
- Video yielded more than twice as many results than they believed it would.
- Marketing automation yielded more results than they believed it would.
- Personalization (targeted) marketing yielded less results than they believed it would.
Percentage fun:
- 70% of businesses say digital marketing is most, if not all, of their marketing efforts. Digital marketing is integrated into every effort and is the core of the majority of acquisition.
- Digital marketing experimentation is up 5% from January 2014 to January 2015. Businesses are trying new platforms, new models, new campaigns and new channels. Social, mobile, personalization and content were among the most interesting opportunities for experimentation.
- Customer experience is centric of all integrated marketing, with 22% of businesses stating they are more excited in 2015 and beyond to create the ultimate customer experience.
- Only 5% of businesses agree that pricing strategies will continue to set them apart from their competition. Is this the end of the price war?
- Meanwhile, 44% of businesses say that customer experience will be the new war. This means creating an experience that is easy, fun, valuable and/or pleasurable.
Stresses:
To change and/or improve customer experience, businesses are placing stress on the following, in this order:
- Personalization and relevance
- Value
- Consistency
- Safety and reliability
- Fun and fulfilling
- Fast
- Mobile friendliness
Strategies:
People want to feel safe and they want their information fast. If a site is slow and insecure, they’re gone – likely for good. Security doesn’t just mean having a SSL these days. If a site even appears to be outdated in its appearance, users will question the credibility of the site and leave. Having an outdated website creates insecurity just as walking into a community with broken fences and run down homes does.
Most important focuses for 2015, in order:
- Targeting and personalization
- Content optimization
- Social media engagement
- Brand building / viral marketing
- Multichannel campaign management
- Conversion rate optimization
- Search engine marketing
- Mobile optimization
- Video content
- Marketing automation