Whilst the majority (71%) of UK brands have a digital strategy in place, more than half (56%) do not have a roadmap for the next three to five years, according to the results of a new survey of marketers.
The report, from Amaze, found that 37% of respondents admitted to not measuring the ROI from their digital activity and 52% say their social media initiatives do not meeting their objectives.
Amaze believes that with the increased digital fragmentation experienced by today’s society, from the tablet wars and multitude of connected devices available, right through to the new social media channels that seem to crop up on an almost daily basis, many brand marketing managers are feeling pressured to keep up with the never-ending race to stay ahead of the curve.
It suggests this pressure is in part responsible for many companies’ digital strategies failing to meet their business and brand objectives.
However, more critically, is the lack of focus on their customer brand experience. Of the brand marketers questioned, only half (56%) had a clearly defined customer experience strategy and of those, 48% did not have a three to five year roadmap in place.
When questioned about what percentage of their annual marketing budget was allocated to digital activities, a fifth (22%) spent between 51-100%. Looking ahead to 2013, 50% plan to increase their annual marketing spend by up to 50% compared to 2012.
Rick Curtis, Chief Strategy Officer at Amaze, commented, “Digital should be all about the customer experience, not just online but through every single aspect of the business. With half of the brands surveyed revealing they did not have a clearly defined customer experience strategy, it is no surprise that so many digital strategies are failing to meet the overall brand and business objectives.
“For a brand’s digital strategy to be both effective and successful it needs to be based on rigorous data and insight, and a true understanding of the customer experience. There are still far too many brands that haven’t invested in understanding what their customer journey looks like or ensuring that their brand experience is consistent across every single touch point. With so many organisations looking to increase their marketing spend next year, it has never been more important to build a clearly defined strategy based on facts, data and insight.”
The annual marketing budgets of the brands surveyed:
The Amaze Brand Survey was carried out amongst 52 senior marketers from UK brands at Marketing Week Live, 27–28 June 2012.
Source: www.amaze.com
