The ROI of marketing technologies varies
It’s no wonder marketing technologies are highly regarded the way they are, after-all, they have a substantial affect on ROI, bottom line and overall company success. So, when narrowing down which technologies marketers are focusing on, who better to turn to than actual B2B marketers for answers? A study by Spear Marketing Group surveyed marketers, and revealed which technologies they value most and which technologies their focus will shift to in the next 12-18 months.
At the top of the list is content marketing (receiving 85% of votes), which should come as no surprise. This is an amazing tool to not only engage with the consumer, but also acquire and retain customers.
SEO is still high up on the list
Following content marketing are two older technologies: SEO coming in at second (70%) and CRM at third (68%). Despite being surpassed by content marketing, both have tested tried and true in the marketing realm, and remain valuable to marketers.
Coming in at number four on the list, is marketing automation (62%), which has allowed businesses the ease of simplifying, automating and measuring marketing tasks since the 90’s. Close behind at fifth place is social media management (59%), which is slightly surprising as I expected it to rank higher with social media’s popularity. More surprising, though, is which technologies marketers project to be the focus for the quickly approaching new year.
Will content marketing stay on top?
Content marketing is projected to stay at the top of the list in the next 12-18 months, however it’s successors are a lot different than before. The top five technologies marketers will be focusing on in the next 12 months are: content marketing (60%), marketing automation (56%), Lead lifecycle/attribution reporting (45%), SEO (41%) and Testing & optimization (37%) or predictive analytics (37%).
So, if you are a B2B marketer, content marketing is the most important technology today, and will remain that way for a while. As far as other technologies, it’s safe to rely on their current importance ranking: Content marketing, SEO, CRM, marketing automation and social media management, however be aware that their importance is rapidly evolving with time, and will be very different in a year than they are today.
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