ALF MarketingTrendReport DRAFT 7
ALF MarketingTrendReport DRAFT 7
ALF MarketingTrendReport DRAFT 7
Spend and
Forecasts 2015
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1
The top 5 marketing trends set to shake up 2015
Chapter 2
Marketing trends in the UK
Chapter 3
Pain points and challenges of your peers and customers
Chapter 4
Key takeaways
2 |
INTRODUCTION
Data is at the heart of everything ALF does; our entire
business is based on insight into 40,000 contacts at
6,000 major UK brands and their agencies.
In this unique report, we surveyed our database to understand where
marketers will be prioritising their budgets and what challenges they are
looking to overcome. Weve also gained insight into the top marketing trends
that both your peers and prospective customers will be embracing in 2015.
Whether youre a supplier looking to understand the needs and pain points
of your potential clients, or a brand looking to benchmark your own spend,
this report provides a complete overview to help inform your 2015 strategy.
Enjoy the read!
Tom McMullen,
Subscription Sales Director,
ALF
| 3
CHAPTER 1
The top 5
marketing trends
set to shake up
2015
We surveyed 153 marketers working within
some of the biggest brands and agencies to
find out what their priorities were for 2015,
where they are investing and what challenges
they are facing.
Who did we ask?
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST DESCRIBES
YOUR JOB ROLE?
8%
3%
3%
Analyst
Consultant
Junior
Executive
40%
23%
Business
owner/
Board level
Manager
23%
CMO/VP/Director
4 |
CHAPTER 1
Marketers prioritise
customer acquisition
Expansion and acquisition are clear trends for 2015, with 73%1 of
marketers seeing driving new customers as their highest priority
but its important not to forget current customers. Marketers are also
considering how to increase customer engagement (31%), drive value
from existing customers (35%) and, ultimately, enhance customer
experience (22%).
Research has shown that the marketing channels used to enhance
customer experience are the same as those used to drive expansion.
As there is little difference between channels, marketers focus should
be on the tone of content. So marketers can kill two birds with one
stone by ensuring current customers are satisfied, which will, in turn,
fulfil their priority of driving new customers.
73%
of marketers
see driving new
customers as their
highest priority
Content needs to be
distributed strategically
Its no secret that content is king: half of marketers will be using
content as a marketing channel in 20152. But its no good having
majestic content if none of your clients are reading it. Content is now
just as much about distribution as it is about quality. And there are
so many distribution channels to choose from - social, search, email,
native, and offline - so its vital to work out the best delivery method for
your content.
Content is the area that most marketers will invest in this year with
80% putting big budgets in developing compelling content. One vital
area for investment will be websites, which should be a companys
flagship source of content. Yet despite it being a priority, it is also one
of our biggest challenges. Content, the building blocks of a website, is
cited as marketers biggest website concern (45%), ahead of design
(35%)3. Marketers need to strike a balance between creating relevant
content and distributing it accordingly.
80%
of marketers
are putting
big budgets
in developing
content
| 5
CHAPTER 1
6 |
48%
of those surveyed
are investing in
Automation and
CRM in 2015
CHAPTER 1
Be omnipresent online in
the year of mobile
If youre not online, youre not on the radar. In our always on society,
it is more important than ever for web presence to infiltrate mobile
and tablet. Forbes declared 2014 to be the third annual year of
mobile, but Salesforce has named 2015 the year of mobile for real.
46% of marketers are using some form of mobile marketing (SMS,
push notifications, mobile apps etc.) this year, compared to only 23%
in 2014.7
46%
of marketers
are using mobile
marketing this year
Digital vs Traditional
the return of direct mail
We saw a hint of a digital backlash in our survey. While content, web
and mobile are still vital channels, marketers arent entirely turning their
back on traditional means of communication. As information available
online escalates, attention spans are dwindling. Its easier to simply hit
delete than sift through your inbox or scroll past a sponsored tweet
rather than read and click through the link.
With traditional offline marketing methods like direct mail, recipients
are more likely to physically pick up your information, read it and have
an actionable response. This is why 34% of marketers8 are looking at
investing in direct mail marketing in 2015. The trick, now, is to ensure
that youre building a coherent, consistent and interesting journey
online and offline. If the messaging is supported across channels, both
online and offline can complement one another.
| 7
CHAPTER 2
Technology
CRM is the big technology to invest in for 2015. Customer
relationship management is key to running a successful business
and fulfilling customer expectations.
Mobile capabilities and the move towards Cloud CRM, rather
than on-premise software, is not only making CRM more effective
and adaptable for working on the move, but is also proving to be
cheaper, as more dynamic systems with CRM apps avoid the need
for frequent, expensive upgrades.
Salesforce is still leading the way in terms of providers (22%) but
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (4%), Netsuite (2%) and Zoho (2%) are
beginning to emerge as favourable platforms. However, 43% of
companies still do not use any CRM software.
Those who are investing in CRM are looking to drive more value
from existing customers (44%) and increase customer engagement
(33%) - targets that are easily acheivable when CRM tools allow
marketers to track the span of a customer relationship.
8 |
TAKE NOTE:
TECHNOLOGY
SUPPLIERS
The most popular
technology
investments this
year are CRM
and Automation.
Suppliers need to
align their sales
strategy with
the priorities of
marketers in 2015
and demonstrate
how their product
or service can
boost customer
engagement.
CHAPTER 2
Automation is also a key investment for this year, frequently being
used in conjunction with CRM (a master for customer records). 11%
of marketing automation users do not use CRM, instead relying on
the micro-CRM capabilities built into marketing automation systems9.
The effectiveness of automation has been proven as SMB marketers
using marketing automation software are perceived to be twice as
effective at staying in touch as their non-automated counterparts10.
Those investing in automation have a clear priority of driving
new customers (69%), while still being invested in driving more
value from existing customers (56%) and increasing customer
engagement (44%).
ALF is an invaluable
resource that saves
me time when trying to
find out who looks after
specific accounts within
the media buying
agencies.
Justin
Viljoen
56%
44%
44%
Increasing customer
engagement
Changing brand
perception
33%
13%
15%
25%
Increasing retention
Enhancing your
customer
experience
19%
13%
23%
Increasing brand
awareness
19%
Gaining
market share
19%
38%
21%
69%
Driving new
customers
67%
Marketers investing
in Automation
Marketers investing
in CRM
| 9
CHAPTER 2
Channels
ONLINE
Content is still a key channel, with 69% of B2C marketers creating
more content than last year and those who have a documented
content marketing strategy are creating the most content11.
In turn, SEO is essential to deliver that content, as most internet
users first port of call is the Google search bar. Without sufficient
SEO, these sites will not be visible.
Social Media continues to be vital to digital marketing, with 64%
of marketers seeing social media marketing as a critical enabler of
products and services12 with B2C marketers using an average of 7
social media platforms this year, compared with 6 last year13.
64%
Video On Demand
13%
Video
40%
Social Media
60%
Social Advertising
SMS
24%
64% 7%
SEO
40%
Sales Promotion
Product Placement
14%
3%
PR
38%
PPC
Packaging
31%
3%
Mobile apps
18%
Mobile advertising
14%
28%
Market Research
Experiential Marketing
Exhibitions
Events
9%
17%
45%
Direct Mail
Customer Insights
Content
Above The Line
advertising TV/Radio
10 |
35%
29%
52%
20%
TAKE NOTE:
CREATIVE
AND DIGITAL
AGENCIES
Specialist
agencies have a
chance in 2015
prove their value
over in-house as
experts in social,
SEO, content
and other digital
marketing.
CHAPTER 2
OFFLINE
Direct mail was highlighted as an ever-effective marketing
tool, with the physical of presence of information being more
appealing to read as opposed to emails that can easily be
deleted or social media posts that can be scrolled past.
Integrating both direct mail and email to boost campaign
response is becoming more popular.
Events continue to be an effective way to deliver a message to
a captive audience. But events in 2015 must be underpinned
by media partnerships, targeted e-marketing, social features
and strong content to be persuasive and successful.
Events are a great example of why marketing channels have
to be used dynamically to achieve their full potential. The same
can be said of inbound marketing in general. Relying on SEO
to draw in visitors from organic search is great, but the SEO
doesnt work if theres no content. Without social media, blogs
dont reach new, interested people. And SEO, content and
social media are all completely useless without a process in
place to track and follow up on interactions14.
| 11
CHAPTER 2
11-14%+
74%
of companies put
5% or less of their
revenue towards their
marketing budget
84%
marketers plan to
increase or maintain
their spend in 2015
14%+
8-11%
5-8%
<2%
2-5%
12 |
Mobile
applications
CHAPTER 2
62%
of marketers
say website
traffic is most
reliable metric for
content success
TAKE NOTE:
DIGITAL
AGENCIES
There is
opportunity to
pursue the big
spenders who
are actively
looking to
invest in their
website. Hot
sectors include:
publishing &
media, charities,
entertainment &
leisure, education
& retail.
| 13
CHAPTER 2
64%
11-14%+
of marketers
in 2015 see
social media
as critical
14%+
8-11%
5-8%
<2%
2-5%
14 |
TAKE NOTE:
AGENCIES
With increased
competition
agencies will need to
start becoming more
of a strategic partner
to brands. Agencies
must spend the time
getting under the
skin of the brand
its customers and
more importantly
the dynamics
within the business.
This value add
not only improves
client/agency
relationship but
often ensures longerterm commitment
from the client.
CHAPTER 3
4%
10%
5%
11%
11%
21%
11%
27%
Limited budget
Beeing seen as a cost centre
rather than a profit centre
Other (please specify)
37%
of those
surveyed are
concerned
about limited
staff
| 15
CHAPTER 3
If time and money can be put towards the problem, then recruitment
is a sound investment. Whether this is hiring freelancers or out-ofhouse staff, or employing new members in-house on a contract
basis, acquiring more manpower is the most direct way to tackle
this pain point.
Another concern is having a limited budget. This is a harder issue
to get around, aside from going to C-suite and convincing them
why the marketing department needs a bigger budget. Those
concerned with having a limited budget mostly had less than 2%
(51%) or 2.1-5% (27%) of company revenue spent on marketing,
so understandably have a restricted about of money to work with.
Relationship with peers is not a concern for the majority, with
only 6% citing it as a problem. This is encouraging, as marketing
is very much a team sport, with different people having different
specialisms, whether e-marketing, content, design, web
development, social etc., it means that peers need to collaborate
in order to deliver the best service to their clients.
16 |
TAKE NOTE:
AGENCIES
With limited
budget still proving
a problem in
brand marketing
departments, the
pressure is on both
marketers and
external agencies
to prove ROI. More
and more agencies
must be willing to
share their clients
KPIs and plan
strategically to focus
on key growth areas.
CHAPTER 3
20%
34%
22%
Increasing retention
17%
Changing brand
perception
Increasing customer
engagement
Driving more value from
existing customers
17%
31%
35%
The main priority for marketers going into 2015 is driving new
customers (73%). Of those who cited new custom as their priority,
38% were concerned that they had limited staff to get the job done.
This correlates with the main objective of launching a new product
for those driving new customers, as new teams or skillsets are often
required when incorporating a new product into a companys arsenal.
TAKE NOTE:
ALL AGENCIES
& SUPPLIERS
Customer experience
and acquisition
remain a key focus
for marketeers,
ensure your product
or service is
demonstrating value
based on supporting
marketeers in
these areas.
Website
Video
62%
39%
38%
65%
Social
media
PR
Events
Content
59%
36%
40%
Customer Experience
48%
Customer Expansion
47%
58%
51%
| 17
INTERVIEWS
Q
18 |
1 The Guardian, From CMO to CEO: leading marketers share their priorities for 2015
2 The Guardian, From CMO to CEO: leading marketers share their priorities for 2015
INTERVIEWS
| 19
INTERVIEWS
20 |
Paige
ONeill,
CMO
Most shoppers are already
willing to pay more for a better
customer experience so retailers
will need to make consistency
a priority in order to remain
competitive. With this consumer
demand for quality customer
experience at an all-time high,
businesses will also need to shift
their focus away from collecting
mass amounts of big data. 4
CHAPTER 4
Summary
Digital and online are still key marketing channels
in 2015, but the emphasis needs to shift to
consistent messaging across all channels and
strategic distribution of content.
Heavy investment in Automation, CRM and website development
demonstrates the importance of customer journey and tracking for
marketers this year.
The channels marketers are investing in to improve customer experience
and lead generation are much the same content, SEO, PPC, events,
social, etc. Suppliers and agencies must position themselves as
experts and thought leaders in their field and share their clients KPIs
in order to drive value out of the relationship. Marketers budgets are
slowly increasing and they are spending on technology and specialist
marketing strategies, so the opportunities are out there as long as the
supplier or agency fully understands the client and their priorities.
| 21
CHAPTER 4
5 key takeaways:
1
22 |
Contact ALF
To access over 40,000 Decision-Makers in the UK across the following categories:
Retail Stores, Automotive, Travel, Charities, Publishing & Media, Confectionery, Drink,
Entertainment & Leisure Activities, Food, Government/Social/Political, Household
Furnishings, Household Supplies, Leisure Products, Mail Order Retail, Office & Home
Computing, Property, Services, Sport, Tobacco, Agricultural/Gardening & Petcare,
Business & Industrial, Clothing, Cosmetics & Toiletries, Education & Vocational,
Finance, Gaming, Home Appliances, Home Improvement, Internet, Luxury Goods,
Medicals, Pharmaceuticals and Telecommunications
Call 020 7715 6440
Email [email protected]
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