A few months ago, the Gartner for Marketing Leaders team (check us out here – aren’t we adorable?) published our second annual Digital Marketing Spend Survey. The 2014 survey offers you a look at how CMOs are allocating budgets and prioritizing resources and investments, related not only to their overall marketing programs, but with a focus on where they’re investing with respect to digital marketing resources and programs.
I always find these surveys interesting. Inevitably, they become the foundational pieces for a lot of our other research. We use the data here to ground our audience in a common understanding, often before taking a deep dive into individual subject areas. For example, anyone who is on my calendar to talk about the role of social marketing in today’s digital marketing programs can plan on hearing how social marketing budgets are, versus other disciplines, seeing some of the biggest budget increases based on our 2014 survey. This kind of stat gives us a jumping off point to discuss the factors driving increased social investment…th edemand for resources, cost to develop content, technology investments to support expanding engagement options and networks, a push for better reporting and insight, and depending on how you bucket your ad spend, investment in paid social to support your organic strategy. We can use this data as a wonderful canvas to help our clients to understand where the market is headed, and how they can prepare, as well as get ahead of it.
But how should you use the data? I can hazard a guess about the way many marketers will want to use the data. One of the things that is clear is that marketers universally are looking for some rules of thumb in their digital marketing strategy. One vendor said recently, marketing has changed more in the last 5 years, than it did in the 100 years before that. So, not surprisingly, the number one question I get – regardless of digital marketing topic – is “who is doing this well,” and then, “how are they getting this level of performance?”. Or even the ever popular, “what are the benchmarks for this?,” which is another way of saying, “can you tell me what good looks like, and then I’ll know if I’m doing this right?” People have questions. Data like this feels like a possible answer. And so when it comes out, it prompts clients to do a line item and strategy comparison, and where deltas exist, the plans will start to form to close the gap. The data thus is used like a pre-scription, rather than the de-scription that it is.
To me, that’s like me reading that bomber jackets are one of 2014’s most wearable trends, and then buying one forgetting that they make me look ridiculous. Instead, here’s what I tell my clients who are seeking benchmarks, market statistics, or thresholds that otherwise look like a guideline for, or barometer of success. I can give you a number, but that doesn’t mean that delivering against that number will create value for the business. Worse yet, if you align to that number, but still fail to deliver against organizational or program goals, then that benchmark I gave you was worthless.
In the case of our survey, dig in a level deeper and understand what is driving the investment, the resource allocation, or the trend shift. Yes, indeed, compare your numbers, but then ask, is there logic in the gap between my investment and theirs? Are we justifiably, and perhaps strategically, different? Or, perhaps, is there something that is reflected in the CMO numbers that is driven by a shift in consumer engagement patterns…or another force that, regardless of sector or business model, will in time come to impact us all?
Download the note that is available with the survey, look at the infographic, and instead of just digesting the numbers, digest the thinking. Get inside the head of our CMOs and figure out how what they’re seeing and doing will or should impact what you see and do. Just don’t stop at copy and paste.
The post The 2014 Digital Marketing Spend Survey: You’ve Got the Data. What to Do (and Not Do) With It. appeared first on Julie Hopkins.
