Throughout 2016 marketing leaders began to focus more on providing digital communications that customers actually wanted to receive.
As this trend continues to grow, industry experts believe that by 2021 the average business will spend up to 75 percent of the marketing budget on digital communications vs traditional methodologies.
The top marketers not only understand the power of digital communications, but spent 2016 fine tuning their communication skills to better craft customer-centric messages.
2016 State Of Marketing Was Determined By The “Foxes”
Foxes are naturally cunning and clever mammals. Inspired by the clever nature of foxes, the top marketers adopted a customer-centric approach in 2016, while simultaneously focusing on the following four components.
- 42 percent of companies leveraged the experience of an executive to strengthen their content marketing team throughout 2016.
- Creating a results-driven content marketing strategy that peaks at the optimal time of the year.
- Clearly defining content marketing processes to more readily produce repeatable results.
- 75 percent of the top marketers invested in content marketing technologies that are designed to enhance results, improve processes, and more efficiently complete marketing tasks.
State Of Content Marketing Strategy In 2016
It is no secret that customers have taken the reins to better dictate what type of marketing materials they wish to receive.
Now, customers have an increased number of choices, information, and power to enhance their buying experience.
As a direct response to this customer-centric mentality, marketers have determined that marketing success should be measured by customer satisfaction ratings.
In fact, creating a positive customer experience has quickly become the culminating goal of all brand interactions.
In their 2016 State of Marketing recap, Salesforce reported that:
- Up to 73 percent of marketers use a customer journey strategy to positively improve engagement levels.
- Up to 80 percent of marketers state that email is a core component of their marketing strategy.
- From 2015 to 2016 the use of SMS as a marketing tool grew by 111 percent.
- When used properly, social media platforms generate a strong ROI for 75 percent of marketers.
- Of the top marketers, 83 percent use customer data to create targeted digital ads.
The above statistics tell an impressive story of the power of crafting marketing materials that are customer-centric.
Additionally, the top marketers understand the importance of delivering marketing messages that provide value, utilize the customer’s preferred communication channels, and leverage the power of new technologies.
Moving forward, marketers will continue to hone their skills in an effort to reach and engage with customers throughout the entire sales process.
For more insights on how marketing strategies evolved in 2016 and how you can use this data for your 2017 content marketing strategy, we have brought together the best and brightest minds for the 2017 Content Marketing Conference here in Boston.