Digital Trends: Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing
It’s that time of year again, the time when we hear from industry experts and businesses where they think the marketing opportunities for 2015 lie.
Before we start looking at the trends we can expect to make it big next year, I thought I would review what the 2,500 marketers we asked for last year’s Quarterly Digital Intelligence briefing with Econsultancy said their main focus areas would be.
The results produced 10 key opportunities for marketers, ranging from B2B content and millennials to programmatic advertising and business agility. I’ve pulled out 3 key trends I believe we have seen the most movement in this year.
Firstly, and without question, one of the main opportunities we’ve seen marketers grab by its horns is customer experience. This undertaking has seen marketers rethink, or implement, their cross-channel and personalisation strategies to provide a joined up and consistent experience for customers.
Rather than casting a wide net over campaigns, technology has allowed marketers to deliver campaigns across channels to match how today’s consumer interacts and behaves in the online/offline world. In 2014, we’ve seen marketers increase their cross-channel personalisation efforts. However, only 5% are personalising extensively and 66% only providing basic personalisation. There’s still progress to be made, but 2015 is sure to see more widespread adoption to match customer expectations and improve customer experience.
Secondly, it’s been touted as the next big thing in marketing for the last decade, but mobile has finally replaced the desktop for many users. Not only has mobile activity increased, but the marketing technology to track and serve these users has developed significantly to become a viable channel for marketers. As if we needed more proof, the latest Digital Journey event was a fine example of where things are headed.
The recent Adobe Digital Index 2014 Online Holiday Shopping forecast shows just how wide-spread mobile ecommerce has become. Adobe Digital Index predicts mobile shopping growth of 38% in Europe this year alone, outpacing even the US. Furthermore, Ericsson has forecast that the mobile market isn’t likely to slow down any time soon with 90% of the global population aged 6 or over will have a mobile phone by 2020.
The third key trend I have selected, and another milestone marketers wanted to tackle this year, is the alignment of marketing and IT in order to increase marketing efficiency, agility, and meet customer expectations. This was a topic of much debate at our DMEXCO panel discussion, and it was revealed that whilst most knew that the CMO and CIO must pursue a common goal, the reality was 61% think that CMOs do not even need to be involved in the planning process.
It’s clear that marketing can no longer survive without technology and, while progress has been made in aligning marketing and IT, if our Digital Transformation study reveals anything it is that this process is far from over.
In a nutshell, that wraps up some of the key marketing shifts in 2014. If you’re interested in seeing your progress against the marketing trends of 2014 you can read the full Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2014 Digital Trends report here.
That was this year, but what does 2015 bring? We’d like to hear from you where your marketing opportunities for 2015 lie. Take a moment to complete our survey, share your thoughts on next year’s trends, and become a part of our Digital Intelligence Briefing 2015 report.
