The digital marketing manager role has become more complicated than ever recently, particularly in light of operating in often under-resourced departments that too often work in silos. That's according to a new industry census of more than 200 UK digital marketing managers released today byMarin Software (NYSE : MRIN).
Marin commissioned pollsters Censuswide to gather the views of digital marketing managers working across companies with a combined annual turnover of over £60billion1.
The study revealed that nearly three quarters (72%) believe their job has become more complicated in the last year as they grapple with fragmenting media channels and an avalanche of new data.
67% say online needs to be better integrated with offline marketing, and two thirds (66%) say more needs to be done to integrate different digital marketing disciplines -- such as paid search, social, SEO and display -- with each other.
Whilst silos clearly exist within Marketing, strong relationships are beginning to be built across other departments. Over half (54%) say they are already working closely with their IT department, and one in five (19%) are planning to do so in future. Yet 26% also said they planned to hire more people with data analysis skills.
Despite overall UK digital ad spend growing by 17% in the first half of 2014 to hit £3.46bn2,nearly half (48%) say their companies should shift even more offline spend to digital to deliver better returns for the business -- just 30% think they have the balance right.
Whilst there is perhaps an element of self-interest in this response (who wouldn't want more budget to play with?!), the report nevertheless highlights a sense frustration from digital marketers who feel their work is not always recognised in terms of the direct impact it has on their businesses.
There is also a clear sense that some respondents doubt the decision making of the most senior marketer in their business. Over a third (34%) claim their boss has a poor understanding of digital and doesn't invest in it sufficiently.
Top five priorities in 2015
Breaking down organisational silos and integrating channels will be the main focus areas in the next twelve months, according to the respondents, who named their top five priorities3as:
1. Better integrating our on and offline marketing efforts (46%)
2. Creating campaigns based on deeper understanding of audiences (41%)
3. Better integrating our digital marketing disciplines (37%)
4. Cross-channel digital marketing (35%)
5. Working more closely with our IT/tech team (29%)
2. Creating campaigns based on deeper understanding of audiences (41%)
3. Better integrating our digital marketing disciplines (37%)
4. Cross-channel digital marketing (35%)
5. Working more closely with our IT/tech team (29%)
Jon Myers, VP & MD EMEA of Marin Software said; "As media has fragmented, so have marketing teams. Too often, we're seeing collections of specialists working independently. This has to change. We know that marketers get the best results from their campaigns when they work in a joined up way and focus on the customer rather than just the click.
"That means following customer behaviour across multiple channels and joining these up to form a complete picture on which to build integrated campaigns. For example, our own research shows that users are twice as likely to convert when they click on both search and social ads as opposed to search ads alone. When you multiply this effect across all online channels, the results can be hugely powerful."
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