Marketers Clearly Have Diverse Objectives In Today’s Digital Environment
In today’s rapidly evolving digital marketing world, businesses prioritize a blend of forward-looking and reflective objectives. A significant 46% of surveyed decision-makers said their organizations invest in emerging technologies, driven by the desire to stay ahead in a tech-centric landscape marked by AI advancements. An equal 46% said they focus on enhancing measurement capabilities, addressing platform changes, and regulatory shifts. The integration of diverse data signals into one place emerged as a key goal (44%), highlighting the complexity of digital marketing analytics. Interestingly, decision-makers said customer retention was a prominent concern (45%), indicative of a shift towards first-party data amidst changing privacy regulations. Additionally, there’s a growing intention to diversify ad spend away from big tech, signaling a desire for less dependency on dominant platforms and a more balanced marketing strategy.
“What are your company’s top digital marketing objectives today?”
Investing in emerging technologies to enhance our existing marketing capabilities
Improving our ability to measure the value of our overall marketing spend and actions
Improving our customer retention and loyalty rates
Diversifying our ad spend and reducing our reliance upon the established big tech platforms
Improving the integration of data across our various digital marketing channels
Base: 650 decision-makers at the director level and above responsible for managing marketing budgets and leveraging affiliate marketing and tech platforms. Note: Showing top 5 only Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Awin, January 2024.
Budgets Strike A Balance Between Gaining Control And Serving Customer Needs
In digital marketing, strategic budget allocations are intricately aligned with evolving priorities. Diversifying ad spend away from big tech (77%) is a top priority for 30% of responding marketers, indicating they are concerned about overreliance on these platforms. Interestingly, only that and improving data integration across channels (77%) emerge as budget priorities despite being marketing goals. Instead, responding decision-makers said there’s a stronger focus on enhancing customer interactions through marketing communications (78%) and experiences on their own platforms (76%). This reflects a concerted effort to balance the need for autonomy and improved marketing ROIs (78%) with a commitment to superior customer service.
“Of your selected top 5 digital marketing objectives, how are they considered in your marketing budget allocation?”
24% Critical priority
54% High priority
Growing our overall ROIs for marketing spend
24% Critical priority
54% High priority
Personalizing our marketing communications to better target our customers
30% Critical priority
47% High priority
Diversifying our ad spend and reducing our reliance upon the established big tech platforms
27% Critical priority 50% High priority
Improving the integration of data across our various digital marketing channels
27% Critical priority
49% High priority
Improving customer experiences across our own online platforms
Base: 650 decision-makers at the director level and above responsible for managing marketing budgets and leveraging affiliate marketing and tech platforms. Note: Showing top 5 only Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Awin, January 2024.
Big Tech Advertising Hurdles Illustrate The Need For Custom Support
Marketers face significant challenges with big tech advertising and desire more choice and autonomy. Key frustrations include a lack of personalized strategic guidance, cited by 68% of respondents, and insufficient reporting, reported by 68% of marketers. The ability to forecast results, a concern for 67%, is hindered by a lack of detailed insights. These issues are compounded by unresponsive customer support, affecting 64%, and inflexible commercial models. While platforms’ algorithm opacity is less of a concern for advertisers, the primary issues reflect a marketing technology landscape in need of human expertise, tailored strategies, and clear transparency. These responses illustrate the major drawbacks of ad platforms built primarily for scale and reach rather than designed with individual customer needs in mind.
“Which of the following marketing problems do you currently face when running advertising campaigns via the big tech platforms?”
Strategic guidance: Generic advice or automated recommendations that don’t cater to specific business needs.
Insufficient reporting: The provided reports don’t give detailed insights or are too generic to make informed decisions.
Ability to forecast results: Inability to accurately forecast results when launching campaigns.
Unresponsive customer support: Delays or generic responses when seeking help for campaign issues.
Inflexible pricing models: Limited ability to negotiate or adjust ad costs based on campaign needs.
Base: 650 decision-makers at the director level and above responsible for managing marketing budgets and leveraging affiliate marketing and tech platforms. Note: Showing top 5 only Source A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Awin, January 2024.
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