1. 11 Key Marketing Trends for 2011
Highlights from the Annual Unica Marketing Survey
WILL MORE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES LEAD 2. MARKETERS WILL LET CUSTOMERS LEAD
TO PROFITABLE PATHWAYS – OR DEAD ENDS? THE DANCE BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF
INBOUND INTERACTIONS.
“More” is certainly the key word for our times. But, as
the results of our annual survey of marketers reveal, the For as long as anyone can remember, marketing has been
proliferation of marketing channels and the concomitant all about getting a message out. Advances in technology
explosion of data pose a wealth of challenges for marketers are driving a shift in direction. Today, inbound marketing is
in 2011. As the survey results suggest, marketers are looking seizing the momentum: customers are taking the initiative
for ways to turn more marketing possibilities into better and directing the relationship on their terms. Marketers are
marketing results. Our survey reveals the following key getting the message. When asked if their departments were
trends for 2011: planning to deliver personalized messages in customer
initiated transactions, participants demonstrated substantial
1. MARKETERS WILL BRIDGE THE GAP commitments to using, or planning to use, inbound channel
BETWEEN ANALYSIS AND ACTION (FINALLY!) communications – via their websites (57% already in place,
25% planning to do so within the year), customer service/
When does a rich set of customer data become a mixed
call centers (52% vs. 18%) and point of sale/kiosk/ATM
blessing? When asked to rank the top bottlenecks in the
(28%/21%).
marketing process, participants identified “measurement,
analysis & learning” as the number one impediment, reflecting
Inbound Marketing Adoption by Channel
appreciation of its value. Yet, in a follow-up question
regarding the most important marketing issues, “turning data Web Site 57% 25% 82%
into action” earned top honors. Over the last decade, many
marketers have become data junkies, absorbing information Customer Service 52% 18% 70%
/ Call Center
for its own sake. But, as they say, recognizing a problem is
the first step toward solving it. Marketers can no longer blame Point of Sale /
Kiosk / ATM
28% 21% 49%
IT for withholding information; with so much data readily
available, it’s time to overcome “analysis paralysis” and turn Currently Don’t currently do this but
do this plan to in the next 12 months
this newly found knowledge into action by integrating data
captured across all channels into subsequent campaigns Base: Total Sample (279 Respondents)
and more personal offers.
57% 62%
SAID THEIR TOP BOTTLENECK SAID THEIR TOP MARKETING
WAS MEASUREMENT, ISSUE WAS TURNING DATA
ANALYSIS & LEARNING INTO ACTION
2. 3. MARKETERS WILL LEVERAGE ONLINE Value of Using Web Data in
BEHAVIORAL DATA TO HELP TURN DATA Customer Analytics and Decisioning
INTO ACTION.
Whatever anyone says about information Very Important 63% 90% say
overload, marketers cherish the data they web data is
collect from their websites. Web interactions Somewhat important
important
27%
open a priceless window on customer
interests, intentions and desires – a wealth of Somewhat
Not important 8%
precise information that easily trumps mere
demographics or transactional data. It’s no Not Important Base: Total Sample
At All 2% (279 Respondents)
surprise that 90% of marketers see web data
as important to drive campaign decisioning.
While only 41% currently use this data in
Use of Web Data in Campaign Decisioning
campaign decisioning, another 35% say
they will in the next 12 months.
Currently do this 41% 76% will use it in
campaign decisioning
Plan to do this by the end of the year
35%
(next 12 months)
Plan to do this
(>12 months) 10%
No plans to Base: Total Sample
do this 14% (259 Respondents)
4. TO KEEP EMAIL RELEVANT, 5. “FREE” ONLINE MARKETING
MARKETERS WILL FOCUS ON TOOLS WILL GET EXPENSIVE.
IMPROVING INTEGRATION,
Like email, web analytics and paid search are
SEGMENTATION, AND TARGETING.
contemporary marketing mainstays. But more
Email hasn’t lost its status as a deeply than half (53%) of marketers rely on “free” tools
entrenched, well understood marketing channel. for Web analytics and more than a third (37%)
85% of total participants reported they are using rely on tolls from the search engines to manage
or planning to use email software. But now that PPC marketing. The savviest marketers are
the low-hanging fruit has been plucked and now considering the cost of “free.” For starters,
the field is glutted with competing messages, a free search tool is limited by its applicability
how will marketers sustain email’s relevance? to the search engine that provides it. Worse,
Today, smart marketers are actually addressing neither the search tools nor free web analytics
this problem by integrating campaigns with can be incorporated with the marketer’s other
data and triggers from other channels to make systems, making it impossible to close the loop
email an essential part of an ongoing, evolving and understand the value of the customers that
dialog with customers and prospects. The job these efforts are delivering. Precisely because
isn’t easy: only 34% of marketers say their the information these tools provide is so
email data is automatically integrated with other valuable, it cannot remain stranded, leaving you
marketing data; another 39% say the integration incapable of realizing the full potential of search
is accomplished manually. Looking ahead, and web data. Investing in web analytics and
email will become the natural integration point search bid management solutions will pay short
with emerging channels such as social and and long term dividends.
mobile. In fact, over half (54%) of marketers
report including social sharing links in email and
about a third (35%) are already creating mobile
specific versions of emails.
3. 6. CHANNEL PROLIFERATION WILL Social Media Marketing Usage
DRIVE THE NEED TO NURTURE
NEW CHANNELS.
11%
New channels continue to multiply like rabbits 10%
with familiar channels, such as mobile, breeding
53%
new “micro-channels” e.g., Foursquare. With the 26%
growth of smart phones and tablet computers
e.g., the iPad, there’s no reason to expect the
proliferation of channels to decelerate any time
soon – nor is it reasonable to expect success
from all of them (remember Second Life?).
But in the face of a rapidly evolving marketing Base: 254 Respondents
landscape, what is reasonable is this: marketers
Current Activity No Plans
need a structured process for assessing
opportunities, testing tactics, measuring Planned activity Planned activity
(>12 months) (Next 12 months)
results and evaluating further involvement in
new channels. For example, a leading financial
services organization developed a structure to 8. MARKETERS WILL TREAT MOBILE AS
A DEVICE WITH MANY CHANNELS,
determine which business goals each social
NOT A SINGLE CHANNEL.
media channel might support. They discovered
that business Facebook is a great place to Survey results show that marketers are growing
drive new customer acquisition, but wasn’t ever more bullish on mobile, with over forty
particularly effective for customer service. percent of marketers currently using mobile
They use web analytics to measure traffic on marketing tactics. Among survey participants,
their Facebook wall and correlate this traffic mobile applications lead the way with 44%
with traffic from their other web properties and current usage; mobiles sites and mobile
micro-sites. When traffic arrives at their website messaging follow at 40% and 36% respectively.
from Facebook, the customer more often than But the real question isn’t whether to use mobile
not signs-up for a card rather than logging into or not, but which mobile marketing channels,
their account for a service interaction. With if any, are relevant to your business and its
social media and mobile, individual channels will customers? Is it SMS texting? Mobile versions
come and go; but a solid evaluation process will of websites? Paid mobile search? Or the tactic
be a lasting investment. du jour, mobile applications? Or some mix
of the above?
7. SOCIAL MEDIA WILL EXPERIENCE
GROWING PAINS. Use of Mobile Marketing Tactics
This year, social media is no longer the adorable
baby everyone wants to hold, but the angst- Mobile application 44% 31% 20% 5%
filled adolescent – still immature yet no longer
Mobile version of
cute – who inspires mixed feelings. All things website 40% 31% 20% 9%
social continue to hold intense interest, with
Mobile messaging
53% of marketers currently applying it to their SMS/MMS/WAP)
36% 26% 17% 21%
marketing efforts. But as tactics rise and fall,
a more sophisticated approach is emerging. Mobile version of email 35% 34% 17% 14%
Instead of thinking tactic by tactic, marketers
are beginning to think strategically across three Mobile Ads
30% 29% 17% 24%
(PPC or Display)
major areas of social content: owned (what they
create), earned (what customers create) and Location-based
targeting 29% 27% 18% 26%
paid (what marketers spend money for).
Currently use Don’t currently use but
plan to in the next 12 months
Don’t currently use but plan Don’t currently use and have
to in the future more than no plans at this time
12 months from now
4. 9. INTERACTIVE MARKETING WILL 11. ADOPTION OF AN INTEGRATED
REACH THE TIPPING POINT AS A MARKETING SUITE WILL ACCELERATE.
DOMINANT MARKETING DISCIPLINE.
Marketers remain confident that technology will
MORE THAN
HALF
Each of these trends isn’t taking place in ease application More than half of marketers said
their pain.
Mobil 44% 31% 20% 5%
isolation. Marketing messages delivered during that technology would increase productivity
inbound interactions need to be coordinated more than additional staff or external agency
Mobile version 40% 31% 20% 9%
with outbound campaigns. Web analytics data support. Moreover, an overwhelming 87%
website
(53%) OF MARKETERS
should inform both online and offline marketing agreed that marketing needs a more integrated SAID THEY HAVE AN
Mobile messaging 36% 26% 17% 21%
campaigns. Integrating social, mobile and suite of software to improve their effectiveness.
(SMS/MMS/WAP) ISSUE ATTRIBUTING
other emerging channels in the marketing mix Why the strong interest? Integrated tools mean SUCCESS TO MARKETING
Mobile version
35% 34% 17% 14%
will play a pivotal role in meaningful cross- email
integrated, interactive marketing, with shared
channel dialogs. Interactive Marketing bridges sources of data and real-time behavioral triggers
Mobile Ads
these trends to facilitate customer awareness, 30% 29% 17% 24%
allowing marketers to take communications to
(PPC or Display)
centralize decisioning, and execute across the next level: personally relevant messaging to
90% say Location-based
Very Important 63%
channels. Most marketers understand the need 29% 27% 18% 26%
the right audiences at the right times. To deliver
targeting
web data
to create cross-channel dialogs and buy into the
is important a more coordinated customer experience and
Somewhat
Important Interactive27%
Marketing strategy. Yet, when asked integrate activities across channels,currently use but
Currently use Don’t marketers
Somewhat
about their current practices, a mere 10% say will turn toward a comprehensive suitethe next 12 months
plan to in
for
8% Don’t currently use but plan to in the future
No Important they have completed their Interactive Marketing centralized, strategic than 12 months
more control. Adoption should
Not Important journey. The good news? Half of marketers accelerate as theDon’t currentlyeases out no plans at this time
economy use and have of the
At All 2%
say they are currently integrating across some downturn and releases pent up demand for
channels. Over the next year, savvy marketers more integrated marketing solutions.
will increase their adoption of Interactive
Marketing and expand the number of channels
Increasing Marketing Productivity with an
they include in this orchestrated strategy. Integrated Marketing Suite
11%
10. MARKETERS WILL GET
10%
8% 5%
MORE SERIOUS ABOUT USING 25%
CROSS-CHANNEL 53%
ATTRIBUTION
26%
TO UNDERSTAND MARKETING
EFFECTIVENESS. 62%
It’s not enough to coordinate campaigns
and deliver results. Marketers must better
understand which activities, programs, and
Current Activitycampaigns
No Plans are contributing to those results. In
Planned Activity Planned Activity
(>12 months) (Next 12 months)
the ranking of top marketing issues, “attributing Strongly agree
Base: Total Sample (279 Respondents) Somewhat
Do not agree Somewhat
at all disagree agree
success to marketing” took the second spot
with more than half of marketers saying they Strongly agree Do not agree at all
find it challenging. Attribution — the process Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree
of assigning credit to marketing campaigns
and exposures that lead to conversions — has
become a critical component of marketing
analytics. Marketers will look for cross-channel
attribution that demonstrates the value of
specific tactics and helps them direct resources
to the most productive options. For successful
attribution, marketers will need a centralized
interaction history of marketing contacts and
customer responses. The good news? Those
marketers who adopt an Interactive Marketing
strategy will already have a centralized view
of marketing touches.