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Marketing Leaders Identify Their Top Brand ChallengesMeasuring the impact of brand investments continues to be a key challenge - as is keeping the brand relevant.
CMOs have been upping their brand investments of late – and seeing payoffs from their increasing spending and efforts. But it’s not all smooth sailing for marketing leaders at enterprise organizations, per findings from a survey by Gartner. Gartner... READ MORE
Here’s How Financial Services Companies Invested Their Ad Dollars Last YearFinancial services brands dedicated less of their ad spend to TV than other advertisers - and more to radio.
Globally, financial services had a median revenue ROI of 3.71% in 2018, per the Global Ad Trends report from WARC. Here’s a look at where the financial services industry invested their ad spend last year. WARC reports that financial services brands... READ MORE
CMOs and the C-Suite: 3 PointsCMOs may not own customer experience after all. October 21, 2019
Top-performing CMOs understand that they must work closely with others in the C-suite in order to impact business priorities and strategic issues. Unfortunately, a study by Deloitte, which focused on how C-suite executives view the contributions of CMOs,... READ MORE
Why Do Different Generations Use Social Media?Older generations use social networks more to share pictures and updates, while younger generations enjoy following celebrities and finding inspiration.
For the past few years, Facebook has experienced a decline in usage among younger generations while other social media channels like Instagram have taken the lead. This is especially true among the youngest generation of adults, as a study [download page]... READ MORE
What Makes Smart Speakers and Voice Assistants Creepy?Half of adults in North America and Europe worry that their voice assistant is listening in on them without their consent.October 18, 2019
Smart speaker ownership has risen dramatically in recent years, and the use of voice assistants has also become more common. Indeed, almost half (45%) of the 5,000 people in Europe and North America surveyed [download page] by Selligent Marketing Cloud for a... READ MORE
UX Professionals Expect AI to Be an Important Trend in Coming YearsEnterprise organizations are seeing an increased demand for UX research in the past year.
More enterprise organizations are seeing the value in user experience (UX): about one-third (32%) of these organizations perceive UX’s value to be high this year, compared to 23% last year. This is in part due to 7 in 10 CEOs now believing that UX is a... READ MORE
Here’s Why Consumers Unfollow InfluencersAmong other factors, improperly-labeled paid posts can lead to losing followers.October 17, 2019
More people are crediting influencers for their purchase decisions, with 3 in 5 younger consumers (ages 16-24 years old) saying that influencers have inspired their purchases in the past six months. However, while consumers generally trust influencers’... READ MORE
How DTC Brands Are Using Video AdvertisingDTC brands rely almost exclusively on premium publishers for their video advertisements.
Due in part to the strength of CTV in the digital landscape and the trust advertisers have in premium publishers, the share of impressions attributed to premium media vendors increased 31% year-over-year (y-o-y) in Q2 2019. Extreme Reach’s Q2 2019 Video... READ MORE
How Are Marketers Deciding Where to Allocate Their Budgets This Year?The majority of senior marketers feel that research helps with collaboration - and budget decisions.October 16, 2019
The majority of senior marketers believe that their organizations have successfully established integrated marketing communications. And three-quarters (76%) of these same marketers say that research helps collaborate between marketing departments, per a... READ MORE
B2B Decision-Makers Point to Areas for E-Commerce ImprovementAs well as pricing on the website, there are many other elements that could improve the buying experience.
E-commerce is expected to account for at least one-eighth of global B2B sales next year. With this in mind, how can B2B companies make the online buying experience easier for buyers? Here’s what respondents to a report [download page] by Episerver had... READ MORE
What Issues Contribute to the Breakdown of Marketers’ Trust in the Ad Ecosystem?Rebates, fraud and data confidentiality issues have eroded trust in the advertising ecosystem.October 15, 2019
While consumers’ trust in advertisers has been anything but high in recent years, trust between marketers and the advertising ecosystem is also a concern. Here are some of the top issues that have frayed the trust between marketers and advertisers, per a... READ MORE
Online Video Consumption Continues to Rise GloballyOnline video consumption grew by one-third per year between 2013-2018.
Online video consumption shows no sign of slowing down in the next few years. After surpassing the one hour per day mark last year, a forecast [press release] from Zenith estimates that time spent viewing videos online will increase considerably again this... READ MORE
These Are the Capabilities CMOs Feel Are Most Vital to Support Their Marketing StrategiesWhich C-suite execs do CMOs feel are their biggest supporters - and detractors?October 14, 2019
Amidst growing concerns about the economy and fears of a global recession, a recent report [download page] from Gartner shows that marketers are remaining upbeat and optimistic about the impact of the business environment on marketing performance. An... READ MORE
What Are the Ingredients of a Successful Product Launch?Launch leaders are more than twice as likely to fully understand their target audience, among other factors.
Last year, the number of product launches increased by an average of 27% per company, with some sectors like food and beverage experiencing even greater growth. Because of this influx of new products and launches, 4 in 5 respondents (81%) to a survey by Bain... READ MORE
Analysis Suggests Advertisers Could Direct More Spend to Facebook Suggested Video AdsCTRs highest for ads on Facebook news feeds. October 11, 2019
Although Instagram only accounts for about one-fifth of Facebook’s total ad spend, in Q2 2019 the 50 largest business profiles had the same audience size on Instagram as they did on its parent company. Not only that, user engagement on Instagram was... READ MORE
African Americans Seem Receptive to Ads – But Few Target ThemAfrican-Americans show an above-average likelihood to see advertising as a means of obtaining useful product information.
African-American consumers display an above-average likelihood to find various types of advertising useful, but the advertising investment focused on this group tends to under index their population share, per a recent report [download page] by Nielsen. Per... READ MORE
Marketers Are Looking At Retention and Satisfaction Rates to Determine CX SuccessEight in 10 marketers say improving customer retention is a primary objective to CX.October 10, 2019
Marketers in both B2B and B2C sectors view optimizing customer experience as one of the biggest opportunities for this year, but how are they measuring the success of their customer experience efforts? A recent Ascend2 survey [download page] of roughly 300... READ MORE
Shoppers Are Preparing Their Online Grocery Orders in A Variety of WaysAbout one-third of US consumers buy groceries online, according to a recent report.
Grocery shopping online is catching on in the US, with estimates showing that sales in this sector grew by more than one-third (35%) year-over-year in 2018, to $24 billion. Even so, online grocery shopping has plenty of room for more growth, as a report... READ MORE
Top 15 B2B Marketing Charts of H1 2019Our most popular - and insightful - B2B charts from the first half of this year.October 9, 2019
Want to get up to speed on the latest trends in B2B marketing? Check out the most popular charts with our B2B audience during the first half of this year, with valuable data covering a range of topics including content marketing, demand generation,... READ MORE
2019 Tech Update: Mobile and Social Media Usage, by GenerationTechnology adoption among older generations - particular Silents - is rising.
Millennials and Gen Xers continue to have the broadest access to smartphones and the heaviest use of social media versus other generations. However, the adoption of smartphones and social media for the oldest Americans, the Silent generation, has taken off,... READ MORE
More Advertisers Are Discussing and Using Podcast AdvertisingThree-quarters of advertisers say they have discussed potential investment in podcast advertising. October 8, 2019
Podcast advertising in the US is expected to grow considerably in the next 4 years, with its market size doubling between 2019 and 2023 to reach $1.4 billion. This forecast appears to be on-trend, as both the percentage of advertisers discussing the... READ MORE
Streamers Are Reportedly Spending the Majority of Their Video Time with OTTTwo-thirds of US adults stream at least some of their TV content weekly.
The number of US households that stream OTT has continued to rise over the past few years, with the percentage of adults that subscribe to a streaming video service now exceeding those who subscribe to pay-TV. Indeed, the share of adult TV content viewers... READ MORE
Consumers: Only One-Quarter of Brand Emails Are Interesting Enough to OpenFrequency of emails remains the biggest annoyance for US email users. October 7, 2019
Although marketers have put social media above email when it comes to perceived effectiveness for the past couple of years, it’s safe to say that email is not dead. In a survey of more than 1,000 US adult knowledge workers by Adobe, respondents estimated... READ MORE
Here Are the Most “Relevant” Brands in the US in 2019Apple retains the top spot for the 5th year in a row.
While the brand at the top of the list of most relevant brands in the US remains steady for another year, the rest of the top 5 has undergone a bit of a shuffle in 2019. So finds Prophet’s Brand Relevance Index [download page], which measures brands across 4... READ MORE
Consumers Say Sponsorships Are Becoming More Influential in Purchase DecisionsMore consumers say they are influenced than not by sponsorships - and many find them meaningful, too.October 4, 2019
While a majority of consumers feel that sponsorship of things like sports teams or sporting events is considered advertising, this does not necessarily mean that sponsorship is seen in the same negative light as other advertising. In fact, there’s... READ MORE
Chatbots Continue to Trail Online Chat in Consumer Preference24-hour service is one chatbot benefit that outshines online chat.
The majority of customers are still communicating with organizations primarily through the use of email and telephone. But some are warming up to the idea of using online chat, with one-third saying they have used this communication channel in the past 12... READ MORE
Media Agencies Make Progress Towards TransparencyGiven recent issues many advertisers have updated their contracts with their media agencies.October 3, 2019
A 2016 study by ANA concluded that “numerous non-transparent business practices, including cash rebates to media agencies, were found to be pervasive in a sample of the U.S. media ad-buying ecosystem.” Obviously, this is not a situation that fosters trust.... READ MORE
XR Professionals See Mass Consumer Adoption of VR and AR in the Near But Not Immediate FutureEnterprise use of VR and AR set to be a high priority over the next year.
As it currently stands, XR professionals are seeing more potential for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies for enterprise than consumer applications. As evidence, a survey [download page] of more than 750 XR professionals by VR... READ MORE
B2B E-Commerce Pros Worry About Customer Experience. Here’s What They Are Doing About It.Around half consider Amazon Business to be a threat to their sales.October 2, 2019
B2B e-commerce is big business, accounting for more than $1 trillion of sales in the US. But online sales can’t be taken for granted, as close to half (45%) of B2B e-commerce marketers say they have lost customers due to poor customer experiences, per... READ MORE
US Median Household Income Update: Who Gets What?Median household income has increased by 13% since 1988, but has grown much faster for the top than bottom percentiles.
The real median household income in the US was $63,179 last year, representing a (statistically insignificant) 0.9% rise year-over-year from 2017. The figure comes from a new report released by the US Census Bureau, based on official national findings from... READ MORE
About Half of Google Searches Now Result in No ClicksMobile appears to be driving a decline in searches with organic clicks. October 1, 2019
Zero-click searches are expected to be one of the top trends that will have a significant impact on SEO in the next few years. And, first the first time, in June 2019, zero-click searches breached the 50% mark in their share of Google searches, per data from... READ MORE
Close to Half of Online Fashion Shoppers Say Social Media Inspired Their Last PurchaseYounger shoppers are most influenced - Boomers, far less so.
By 2022, E-commerce is expected to grow to account for more than one-third (36%) of the total global fashion industry by 2020. This growth will be fueled in part by social media, as almost half (47.5%) of the 2,000 US online fashion shoppers surveyed... READ MORE
These Metro Areas Have the Highest Concentrations of Young MillennialsAlso: a look at the areas with the highest and lowest median ages.September 30, 2019
Young millennials (18-24-year-olds) make up just less than one-tenth (9.4%) of the US population, per US Census Bureau 2017 estimates. But certain metropolitan areas are home to a much larger proportion of 18-24-year-olds than others. If you’re a... READ MORE
What Roles Are CMOs Taking When They Change Companies?Close to half of CMOs took up their next role at a new company.
When talking to one another, some 3 in 10 (31%) of CMOs say that one of the topics they discuss is advancing in their careers beyond a marketing role. That being said, if a CMO is hoping to move into a broader role such as General Manager or CEO, they have... READ MORE
Almost Half of Newly Appointed CMOs Are WomenThe rate recorded in H1 2019 is the highest since Russell Reynolds began analyzing CMO appointments by gender.September 27, 2019
It wasn’t long ago that women only made up about one-third (34%) of newly appointed CMOs. But in just four years, that percentage has increased considerably, with new figures from Russell Reynolds Associates revealing that 48% of newly appointed CMOs in H1... READ MORE
Cord-Cutting Shows No Sign of Slowing DownIn the past year, pay-TV providers have shed almost 5 times more subscribers than in the year earlier.
Pay-TV subscribers are continuing to cut or, at the very least, shave the cord at a relatively steady rate. A recent survey [subscription required] by TDG of adult broadband users that subscribe to MVPD services found that some 13% of respondents say they... READ MORE
Which Social Media Platform Generates the Most Return Visitors to Online Media Sites?Even with news feed algorithm changes, Facebook generates a huge number of referrals per month.September 26, 2019
Changes to Facebook’s algorithms have not endeared the social media platform in the eyes of publishers, with many experiencing a decrease in referral traffic from the platform after the changes that occurred in 2018. However, per recent research from... READ MORE
US Retail E-Commerce Growth Continues in Q2 2019E-commerce sales in the US reached more than $146 billion in Q2 2019.
E-commerce sales growth in the US shows little signs of leveling off as, once again in Q2 2019, online sales have increased by double-digits. Retail e-commerce sales in the US reached an estimated $146.20 billion in Q2 2019, accounting for 10.7% of total... READ MORE
What B2B Marketers Are Saying About Their Lead Nurturing CampaignsSix in 10 B2B marketers say their lead nurturing initiatives are below par.September 25, 2019
Only a few (8%) B2B marketers feel that they are doing an excellent job when it comes to their current lead nurturing initiatives. Instead, the majority of marketers say their lead nurturing initiatives either need improvement (45%) or are poor or inadequate... READ MORE
What Drives Viewers to Choose Their Default Source for Watching TV?Live TV remains the top default source for watching TV, but continues to lose influence.
The days of consumers turning to one source to access their favorite shows are gone, as now the average US consumer watches shows and movies through more than four different sources. But which sources are people turning to first and what compels them to do... READ MORE
US Consumers Don’t Trust Advertisers to Use Facial Recognition ResponsiblyOnly 2% of US adults have a great deal of trust in advertisers to use facial recognition responsibly. September 24, 2019
The vast majority (86%) of US adults are aware of the existence of facial recognition technology, per a new report from the Pew Research Center. The study also found that about three-quarters (74%) of adults believe that facial recognition is at least... READ MORE
Strategists Say Their Influence With Clients is GrowingMore than half likewise say they have more influence within their agencies than they did a year ago.
Competition from consultancies has strategists looking outside their roles at agencies, with almost two-thirds (63%) saying they do not expect their next role to be with an agency, per The Future of Strategy 2019 [download page] from WARC. That being said,... READ MORE
What Might Be the Biggest SEO Trends Over the Next 3 Years?SEO pros believe overall page content is the most heavily weighted ranking factor. September 23, 2019
Some two-thirds (66.3%) of SEO professionals say they believe Google’s weighted ranking factors vary widely depending on the query. That’s according to a recent survey from SparkToro, which also found that only 7.4% of SEO pros feel that Google’s... READ MORE
2019’s Top Brands Ranked by Customer LoyaltyAmazon holds its top spot for the third year in a row.
Amazon retains its position as the brand loyalty leader in the US for the third consecutive year. So says the latest annual loyalty study [pdf] from Brand Keys, which ranked customer engagement and loyalty to 921 brands across 110 categories. Rounding out... READ MORE
CMOs Rate Themselves Below Their Competitors in Most Aspects of the Customer ExperienceMore than one-tenth of CMOs say mapping all elements of the customer journey is a CX challenge. September 20, 2019
Marketing capability development remains the top knowledge priority for CMOs. On average, they increased their spend by 10.4% in this area, with the service sector in both B2C (15.0%) and B2B (12.0%) indexing above their product peers, per the results of the... READ MORE
Streaming Keeps Music Consumption High in H1 2019On-demand music streams topped 500 billion during the first half of this year.
The number of on-demand music streams grew by 31.6% year-over-year during the first half of 2019, according to Nielsen’s latest look at the industry [download page]. For the first time, music video streams (+39.6%) have grown at a faster rate than music... READ MORE
Customer Success Execs Outline Their Priorities. How Are They Aligned With Marketing?Only two-thirds of customer success professionals collaborate with marketing.September 19, 2019
Although marketers think they own the customer, is this really the case? In a recent study [download page] of customer success professionals from Totango, respondents said they collaborated with marketing less often than other departments such as sales,... READ MORE
TV Universe Adds 700K Homes for the Upcoming 2019-2020 SeasonThe number of Americans in TV-viewing homes is up 0.8% in 2019.
After only increasing by 300,000 in 2018, the number of TV homes in the US has grown by 700,000 this year, reaching 120.6 million for the upcoming 2019-2020 season, according to Nielsen’s latest TV Universe estimates. An estimated 307.3 million Americans... READ MORE
Four Points About Direct Mail’s Usage and EffectivenessTwo-thirds of direct mail marketers have at least a moderate level of martech integration with the channel.September 18, 2019
Although many marketers are either decreasing their investment in direct mail or have never budgeted for it at all, others are still finding value in the channel. So, while email and social media are the most frequently used channels for marketing campaigns,... READ MOREFeel Like You're Always Playing Catchup?
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