Key Take-Aways From Salesforce's 2015 State Of Marketing Report

Salesforce have produced a great report on what marketers foresee as their main priorities this year. No surprises here but mobile and social marketing will be focused on and it seems marketers have the confidence that these will deliver a return on investment and desired results. Here are some key stats Forbes plucked from the report...

Key Take-Aways From Salesforce's 2015 State Of Marketing Report

84% of marketers plan to increase or maintain their spending on marketing and technology in 2015.Mobile applications, marketing analytics and CRM tools are the three most critical technologies marketers are planning to invest in during 2015.

71% of marketers believe mobile marketing is core to their business, and 68% have integrated mobile marketing into their overall marketing strategy. The survey results show that more integrated mobile marketing campaigns are, the higher level of selling effectiveness achieved.

These and other findings are from the 2015 State of Marketing Report (free, opt-in) published by Salesforce earlier this week. The report is based on a survey conducted online from October 28, 2014, to November 25, 2014. Survey respondents are full-time marketers in Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s locations around the world.

Key take-aways include the following: 

• Mobile applications, marketing analytics and customer relationship management tools are the three most important technologies to creating a cohesive customer journey.
• The top five areas of increased spending include social media advertising (70%), social media marketing (70%), social media engagement (67%), location-based mobile tracking (67%) and mobile applications (66%).  
• Social media and mobile marketing are quickly emerging as critical enablers of products and services.  Marketers plan to spend more on social media advertising, social media marketing, social media engagement, location-based mobile tracking, and mobile applications. 
• The three most pressing business challenges facing marketers in 2015 are new business development, quality of leads, & remaining up to date with current market technology and trends (27% each), customer acquisition (26%), and quantifying marketing’s return on investment (25%).
• Mobile marketing is paying off for many marketers, with 31% reporting that these strategies produce ROI. Mobile marketing increased as a critical enabler of marketer’s products and services from 57% in 2014 to 70% in 2015. 

• There was a 39% leap in the importance of social media marketing as a critical enabler of products and services between 2014 and 2015. In 2014, 25% of marketers considered social media marketing a critical enabler of products and services, increasing to 64% in 2015. 
• Revenue and customer satisfaction are the most common metrics used to evaluate marketing’s contribution. The top 5 digital marketing metrics marketers are planning to use in 2015 include revenue growth (32%), customer satisfaction (30%), return on investment (23%), customer retention rates (23%) and customer acquisition (23%).

By: Louis Columbus

Source: Forbes