We’re halfway through the year, and what better time than now to assess your marketing goals and results to date. It’s an important time of the year to evaluate how far you’ve come, what goals you are still striving for and what strategies–or even goals–might need to change for the months to come so you can finish the year strong.
Earlier this year, we surveyed marketing executives from large, mid-sized and small companies about priorities in key areas of their marketing plan. Certain findings were not surprising, but others were very interesting. So we thought we’d share a few insights from the survey with you so you can benchmark where you are against your peers in other industries. We also have some recommended action steps you can implement today.
Of course, if you’d like to see the full results report, you can take the survey yourself! We’ve just re-opened the survey for the second half of 2019, so use the link here to take the survey.
So let’s jump in, Adam. What’s the first ah-ha you had when reviewing the results of the Marketing Benchmark report?
ADAM:
You bet. There were so many! But I’d like to start with marketers’ overall feelings about how satisfied they were with their prior year marketing results.
53% of marketers were somewhat or extremely satisfied with their 2018 marketing results. This obviously means that 47% of marketers were not satisfied with their overall results. I don’t know about you, but I want to look back on my year and feel good about what we’ve accomplished.
Another interesting point from our Marketing Benchmark Survey is most respondents reported that they completed their 2019 marketing plans prior to the end of their 2018 fiscal year. This point isn’t all that surprising because of the typical budget approval process. However, it’s worth noting the potential effect planning a year out may have on our overall results, especially the 47% of marketers who weren’t satisfied with their marketing results.
So that’s our Takeaway #1: You SHOULD conduct a mid-year results review & modify your plans as needed.
That second part is really important. It’s imperative that we take a critical look at our strategy, execution, data, results and ROI of both money and time spent. If we don’t take the necessary assessment time we’ll continue to see a disproportionate percentage of our marketing brothers and sisters not satisfied with their results.
So… please, please, please build the time into your schedule to evaluate, this way next year we’ll see a much higher percentage of marketers who are satisfied with their overall results!
NICOLE:
Oh my gosh, yes. I agree! So let’s say you are wanting to make a few tweaks to your plan. You may be wondering where do other marketers place their bets, so to speak, in terms of getting the best return on their investment? Because if you could re-allocate just a little bit of your efforts into something that’s working really well consistently across the board for others, wouldn’t you want to do that?
Well, we asked marketers the question What do you find are the THREE BEST channels for generating a return on your investment. We actually have to look at the top four because there was a tie for first and second place in my most recent data pull.
What I notice about these –Email Marketing, Tradeshows & Events, ABM and Content Marketing – they are all things that most directly feed the 1-to-1 relationship building. Even if we see the percentages change a little and perhaps some of these swap out for the lead position, I believe we’re going to keep seeing these channels as primary areas of marketing investment for their ability to generate a measurable ROI.
So our Takeaway #2: Prioritize initiatives that advance 1:1 relationship building. The second half of the year is your time to double down on staying connected and relevant to your customers and prospects so you can finish the year strong!
Adam, what do you think about that?
ADAM:
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an events guy. I whole-heartedly believe in marketing that deepens relationships. It just works! This brings us to our last takeaway today, which is how your marketing team is measured.
I don’t think any of us measure success in terms of total leads anymore. If you do, you may want to pay even more attention to what I’m about to say.
Today, our success as marketers is inextricably linked with the sales team’s success. We’re no longer measured in our own silos. Marketing technology has forever changed the game to integrate our efforts with sales. If you’re not taking advantage of opportunities like email automation, Account-based marketing and predictive analytics, then you definitely aren’t measuring the complete customer journey. In my mind, its the natural evolution of where we should be, it’s the “Norm”—for marketers to be evaluated by sales’ success.
So Takeaway #3: Continuous Sales and Marketing Process Improvements and Optimization Opportunities
The closer we are aligned with our sales team, the better we’ll be at building relationships and improving overall marketing results. See how I just tied this all together in a nice neat bow?
NICOLE:
You’re so right, Adam. And of course, if anyone is looking for a way to do all of these things right now, there’s still just a couple of weeks left to register for this year’s Marketing Impact 2025: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange in July.
It’s so useful to get out beyond the walls of your office, to have time to reflect on what’s working/what’s not, to get fresh ideas for boosting your 2nd half programs, and of course bring your team for the relationship building piece. It’s pretty amazing for all of these reasons actually!
That’s all we have time for today. Be sure to check out an infographic we put together about the Marketing Benchmark results. And to see the full report, take the survey yourself. The link is below this video.
Thanks for tuning in. Until Next Time, remember to Grow Your Brand…And Drive Demand!
