It’s that time of year when the mind thinks of shopping and the wallet begs for mercy. This week, we take a look at how marketers are spending, consumers are researching and what’s important to everyone when it comes to the buying process.
Search Before You Shop
A new survey from inMarket examines the mobile shopping behaviors of 2,500 US smartphone owners who used their devices in stores. While it’s no surprise that 55 percent used their smartphone in the store to conduct related research, only eight percent were utilizing that retailer’s dedicated app. The results reflect a similar study by Fluent that revealed a little more than half (54 percent) of consumers researching purchases online beforehand.
Mobile Matters
Speaking of mobile, Zenith predicts that in 2017, mobile advertising will surpass advertising on desktop. In 2018, Zenith estimates that mobile advertising will reach $134 billion, more than what marketers will spend on newspaper, magazine, cinema and outdoor advertising combined.
IoT Is Important To Marketers
Of four emerging technologies—VR/AR, AI, Conversational and Internet of Things (IoT), 79 percent of marketers deem IoT very or somewhat important, compared to 72 percent of agency executives. The survey, conducted online by Advertiser Perceptions Inc. in October with ad executives, found that 74 percent of respondents felt IoT was at least somewhat important, while 24 percent said it was very important. Only 6 percent said it was not important.
Spending More To Make More
Marketing budgets are on the rise, according to a survey of marketing executives by Gartner. The survey showed that marketing budgets increased slightly to 12 percent of company revenue in 2016, compared to 11 percent in 2015. Fifty-seven percent of marketing leaders surveyed expect their budgets will increase further in 2017.
Deck The Halls With Deals
Retailers are gearing up for the holiday shopping season and 25 percent plan to offer more discounts and promotions than last year. According to the 2016 BDO Retail Compass Survey of CMO, 91 percent of those surveyed expressed plans to leverage social media to promote deals and discounts. It’s not just about the sales, however, as 87 percent will aim to make more meaningful one-to-one connections with consumers this holiday season through social media. Two-thirds plan to partner with an influencer or brand ambassador to reach coveted customers via their most trusted sources.
Young, Confident Spenders
Multicultural millennials are influential, and they know it. According to a study by Buzz Marketing Group, 78 percent of those surveyed feel that they have power as a consumer to influence big brands. If a brand agrees with those same millennials on a social issue, even better—83 percent like it when brands make a public stand for or against issues they believe in.
That’s A Whole Lotta TV Programming
The amount of TV inventory available to be bought and sold programmatically has risen more than 500 percent since the first quarter, according to a new report by TV advertising software company Videology. Spending on advanced advertising and programmatic TV campaigns increased by 92 percent since the first quarter, with 30-second ads remaining the most popular format at 50 percent.
Everything’s Coming Up Digital
If you feel as though your eyes are constantly glued to one screen or another, you’re right. EMarketer expects the average US adult will spend 12 hours and 5 minutes each day consuming media content in 2016. Major digital media gets about 5 hours and 42 minutes per day, according to 2016 estimates in the report—including mobile, desktop and other connected devices. Meanwhile, the use of TV, newspaper and print will decline steadily over the next two years, and radio will make a bigger shift to digital platforms, as well. While radio consumption is expected to drop 0.7 percent on traditional devices and three percent for desktop listening in 2017, music lovers will get their groove on with a 5.7 percent up-tick on mobile devices.
B2B BFFs On Social
Regalix has released a new report on the state of B2B social media marketing. According to the data, 67 percent of respondents said they allocate budget to social media ads. Despite this fact, whether or not the investment is worth it seems to be in question. While 52 percent said that social media marketing is “very important,” the remaining 48 percent said the effort was “somewhat important.” 87 percent of respondents said that hope that they hope social media marketing will increase brand awareness and a majority (58 percent) named LinkedIn and Facebook as having delivered efficiently on advertising dollars.
B2B Marketers Get With The Program
Programmatic ad spending is common practice among B2C marketers, encouraging brand awareness and impulse buys among targeted audiences. When it comes to B2B sales, however, ad spending can be a bit more tricky. According to a new study by Dun & Bradstreet, 42 percent of B2B marketers cited targeting the right audience as a top obstacle, compared to 34 percent who named measurement metrics. B2B marketers are more willing to give it a go in 2017, however—nearly 70 percent said they plan to increase their spending on programmatic, with 22 percent saying they will increase it by more than 25 percent.
