Here’s insight from 5,000 marketers on how 2015 will play out

Now in it’s second year, the Salesforce State of Marketing report was published last week, providing insight into the industry’s priorities, challenges, and metrics for 2015.

Five thousand marketers participated, giving us an in-depth look at their approach to email, social, and mobile marketing. Here’s a quick look at a few stats and takeaways.

Challenges

The most pressing business challenges expected by marketers this year:

1. New business development
2. Quality of leads
3. Remaining up to date with current marketing technology and trends

In order to successfully face these hurdles, 84% of marketers plan to increase or maintain their marketing spend, while 38% plan to shift spend from traditional mass advertising to advertising on digital channels.

Music to the ears of brands with strong online communities.

Channels

Email’s importance is on the rise. When comparing 2014 to 2015 responses to the question, “Why is email core to your business?” 66% of marketers in the 2015 survey said that email is a critical enabler of products and services vs. 42% of marketers in 2014.  Furthermore, 72% of US online adults send or receive personal emails via smartphone weekly, which means responsive is now a necessity not just a nice-to-have.

Mobile is also seeing further advancement. 46% of marketers surveyed are using some form of mobile marketing — either SMS, push notifications, mobile apps, or location-based functionality — compared to only 23% in 2014.

A third critical channel for 2015 is social, “graduating from understudy to headliner”. While 25% of marketers in 2014 saw social as a critical enabler of products and services, that number leaps to 64% in this year’s research. Furthermore, 66% of marketers agree that social media marketing is core to their business.

Metrics

With an ever-greater number of tactics and responsibilities, marketers need to keep a focus on the metrics that not only matter to their business, but also can truly be influenced. The industry appears to be shifting attention from traditional metrics like conversion rates and return on investment to metrics that better reflect customer satisfaction.

Spend

The data suggests that 2015 is the year when marketers will truly bank on social and mobile. In fact, 70% plan to substantially increase their spend in social, and 66% intend to for mobile.

This makes sense, as the same marketers also see these two platforms as critical enablers of products and services (64% claim social to be and 70% see mobile as such).

To conclude: digital marketing is fundamentally changing. Increasingly, perception is shifting to a more holistic view in which all marketing is part of the digital world. No matter which tactics, channels, and strategies you adopt in 2015, remember that every touchpoint is an opportunity to improve and influence the digital customer journey.