Marketing budgets are going up slightly in 2013 a Gartner marketing survey has found, and the areas seeing the most investment will likely be e-commerce, and social and mobile marketing.
25% of Marketing Spend Goes to Digital
Most of marketers' budgets aren't going to online channels, but Gartner found more and more companies are expecting marketers to be responsible for digital commerce, and the potential in this segment is huge. The US Department of Commerce estimated e-commerce sales of US $225.5 billion in 2012, for example.
Gartner has identified the latest marketing trends in the survey, and companies who want to see where and how top marketers are spending their cash should take note. Over 200 marketers were surveyed from six US industries, and the first in a series of reports is out today. It seems marketers have been unable to fully exploit the latest technologies at their disposal, and Gartner found this skills gap leads to widespread outsourcing, for example.
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Nearly 50% of digital marketing is outsourced, and in house talent may continue to lag as those outside agencies reap the benefits of this skills gap. This is especially true with specialties like search marketing andmobile marketing.
Overall, companies spent about 10% of revenue on marketing, and among those surveyed, 43% said they were increasing operating budgets in 2013. About a quarter of that marketing spend is going to digital, and companies are focused most on their corporate websites, social marketing and digital advertising as their optimal digital marketing mix.
More Spending Equals More Pressure
Even though marketers are getting a bigger piece of the revenue pie, they still have to deliver on those investments. Gartner's benchmarks should help companies understand where they can do the most with the money they have available to their marketers.
One way companies are adapting is by adding new roles and titles. Chief marketing technologists, for example, were found in 70% of the organizations surveyed, and 80% of them report to marketing. About 18% report to the CIO. These leaders help guide strategy on things like marketing software, data and analytics, social and mobile platforms and website design.
Sometimes this role is called chief digital officer, CTO of marketing or even CMO, but the point is the person is responsible for designing customer experiences over many channels. The important thing is companies need someone in the board room to help push customer experience via marketing technology.
However businesses attack their marketing budgets, Gartner might have some helpful tidbits on strategy and implementation in this survey. It's free to the public, so even those who don't work in an enterprise company can access it and gather up some marketing wisdom.
