Seventy-eight per cent of marketing executives believe corporate marketing will undergo a digital transformation over the next five years because of the increasing use of analytics, digital and mobile technologies. However, a similar number of respondents (79 per cent) believe their company will not be a fully operational digital business in the same amount of time, a new global survey by Accenture has revealed.
The research highlighted that one third of the executives expect digital spending to account for more than 75 per cent of their marketing budgets within five years, and 41 per cent believe their spending on digital marketing will increase by more than five per cent next year alone.
The survey showed that marketing executives who grew up with digital (those under 35) give more significant weight to the use of mobile (38 per cent) than the older respondents (18 per cent). Additionally, seven out of 10 marketing executives age 50 and below believe mobile is an important channel for reaching customers, compared to fewer than five out of 10 who are 51 or older.
Respondents believe front-line employees and customer word of mouth are still very important marketing channels, but the increase in effectiveness of email marketing, online display advertising and SEO was significant with jumps of 14, 10 and nine points respectively from Accenture’s 2012 survey. Meanwhile, telemarketing saw a huge drop in both importance and effectiveness, decreasing by 23 per cent and 10 per cent.
Brian Whipple, senior managing director at Accenture Interactive, said: “As marketing executives are increasingly embracing digital they can be catalysts to help their company take advantage of the wider digital opportunity and protect against broader digital threats.
“Marketing executives are well positioned to assume this role because the opportunities, as well as the potential and real threats, are all about the customer, the brand, the interface with the customer and how the customer is empowered. To be part of their enterprise’s digital transformation, marketing executives should extend their vision of marketing beyond traditional boundaries.”
