Consumers are increasingly losing interest in traditional advertising mediums and are turning their attention toward digital content. In fact, U.S. adults spent more time with digital media than TV for the first time in 2013, according to research from eMarketer. As consumers’ attention shifts to digital media, companies are changing their priorities by allocating more money to digital marketing budgets.
According to research from Teradata and Econsultancy, some 69 percent of senior enterprise marketers anticipate an increase in digital spend in 2015, with a 10 percent increase annually for the next five years. In 2014, display and search took the lion’s share of marketing budgets, followed by content creation. This year, enterprise marketers expect significant increases in the following:
- Mobile (34 percent)
- Content marketing (19 percent)
- Display ads ( 18 percent)
- Email (17 percent)
- SEO (16 percent)
In terms of marketing technology investments, respondents listed attribution systems, marketing clouds and audience management systems as the top three priorities for technology not currently in use in their organizations.
So what should you make of this research?
Well, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that enterprises are investing heavily in mobile. Mobile is arguably the closest you can get to the consumers as there is no other device that is as personal or pervasive. In fact, in 2014 U.S. adults spent 23 percent more time with mobile on an average day than in 2013, according to the aforementioned research from eMarketer.
Nor is it a shock that content marketing comes in at a close second, with 19 percent of enterprises significantly increasing their budgets and 51 percent projecting some increase. Content marketing has proven to be an effective tactic for increasing brand awareness and customer acquisition. Just consider this: 70 percent of B2B marketers say they are creating more content than they did one year ago, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends Report.
As 2014 quickly comes to a close, marketers are busy drafting their budgets and prioritizing their marketing strategies. If mobile and content marketing aren’t on your list, you may want to reconsider your business’s marketing priorities.
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