Digital Marketing Budget TrendsDigital marketing budgets are growing by leaps and bounds. Forrester reports that digital media budget expenditures will rise to nearly $120 billion over the five-year period of 2016 through 2021.
As these numbers indicate, digital marketing spending is compounding annually, and the trend is expected to continue. However, a few interesting callouts are important to note as you measure your digital marketing budget up to the trending ” supersized ” numbers.
Digital Marketing Trends
As digital marketing budgets soar, marketers are getting more strategic. Here’s how:
- They want quality over quantity. The days of spending on initiatives and then waiting to see how they work are no longer. Marketers want to spend their precious dollars on efforts that perform measurably. From 2008 through 2012, digital marketing budgets were looser and more experimental. Now, marketers have better historicals to help them define what works and doesn’t.
- They know that traditional marketing still has value. While digital marketing budgets are on par to make up 50% (or more) of the average marketing budget, savvy marketers know that an agnostic approach is likely the best. The marketing mix varies across industries, but channels like tradeshows, direct mail, and print and broadcast advertising are still valuable. They should go hand in hand with digital marketing campaigns.
- They are doubling down on customer experience and big data. Savvy marketers understand the value of a stellar customer experience throughout each marketing funnel stage. With judicious spending demands, marketers utilize precious dollars to obtain insightful data and invest in product enhancements and UI and UX to enhance the customer experience.
- Video is king. Video is no longer a trend to consider; it’s a full-fledged standard of the marketing mix. It has many positive attributes, including SEO value, social cache, and meeting the growing consumer demand for video consumption. Also notable is this: 73% of B2B respondents believe video positively impacts their ROI.
While digital marketing budgets are growing exponentially, marketers need to take a 360-view of the unique landscape they face within their industry and their customer’s behavior. Working with a partner focused on performance, not tactics, can help you achieve your goals in 2017 and beyond. Valve+Meter can help you define the best strategy and roll up your sleeves to help you implement it!