Digital, Mobile to Dominate Marketing Efforts
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Sea Change
78% of global marketing executives feel that their department will undergo a fundamental transformation over the next five years due to the use of analytics, digital and mobile technologies. -
Insufficient Efforts, Part I
79%, however, feel their company will not be a fully operational digital business within that time, and one-quarter say a lack of critical technologies and tools is the chief barrier to digital integration. -
Insufficient Efforts, Part II
Just 62% say their company currently provides a good customer experience. -
Job Prerequisite
42% feel that analytics skills will serve as a core competency of marketing over the next five years. -
Combining Strengths
26% say marketing and IT will merge into a single function within the next five years. -
Financial Dominance
37% say digital spending will account for more than three-quarters of the total marketing budget. -
E-Mail Marketing Status
58% say they're either fairly effective or very effective within their e-mail channel campaign efforts, up from 44% in 2012. -
Moving Ahead
58% say they are either fairly effective or very effective when it comes to mobile channel strategies, up from 50% in 2012. -
Social Skills
56% say they're fairly effective or very effective with social media channels, up from 48% in 2012. -
Adapting to Real-Time Conditions
32% say they will not know what a marketing campaign will look like in advance in the near future, and that these campaigns will need to unfold in real time, as driven by customer intents and needs throughout all devices and channels.
Before the decade's end, you may find your IT department merging with marketing, according to a recent survey from Accenture. The vast majority of global marketing executives say that the next five years represents a critical period for a digital transformation—one that will depend upon an increase in capabilities such as analytics. However, an equally dominant share of these executives does not expect their organizations to rise to the challenge within that time frame. This puts greater pressure on CIOs and the IT department to deliver upon rising digital demands, especially as the marketing side increases its digital influence and expectations. "As marketing executives are increasingly embracing digital, they can be catalysts to help their company take advantage of the wider digital opportunity and protect against broader digital threats," says Brian Whipple, senior managing director with Accenture Interactive. "Marketing executives are well positioned to assume this role because the opportunities—as well as the potential and real threats—are all about the customer, the brand, the interface with the customer, and how the customer is empowered." And these developments will require marketing to push beyond its traditional roles—and extend into those involving IT, according to Whipple. More than 580 global senior marketing executives participated in the research. For more about the survey, click here