Web analytics/data (65%), social media activity (64%), and content marketing (63%) are the main digital marketing areas allocated in-house resources by US and UK organizations, according to [download page] a December 2011 report by Econsultancy. Data from “Digital Marketing: Organizational Structures and Resourcing” indicates that most respondents also keep community management (59%) and email marketing (58%) in-house. By contrast, almost half outsource application development, while more than one-third outsource paid search (37%) and display advertising (37%).
According to a December 2011 report from MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, outsourcing of content marketing by B2B marketers is on the rise: whereas in 2010 only 55% of marketers used outsourcing in some capacity, this year that proportion has risen to 62%.
In-House Specialist Resources Seen Common
65% of respondents to the Econsultancy survey indicate that they have an in-house specialist digital resource (discipline specialist whose role is focused on one particular area of expertise, such as SEO) within the digital marketing team. The main areas for which organizations have dedicated digital marketing discipline specialists are website design and build (54%), search engine optimization (47%), web analytics/data (43%), and paid search (39%).
The top areas to which organizations allocate generalist in-house expertise are content marketing (68%), community management (63%), display advertising (59%), email marketing (59%), social media activity (58%), and mobile marketing (58%).
Digital Marketing Gets Buy-In, Is Mostly Integrated
The majority of survey respondents strongly (21%) or partially (41%) agree that the board/senior management of their organization has a good grasp of the potential of digital channels, far outweighing those who strongly (9%) or partially disagree (17%) with that statement. More than 3 in 5 respondents also indicate senior management to be responsible for setting budgets and targets, as well as for agreeing the strategic priorities and direction for digital marketing programs.
Coupled with this level of buy-in is an effective integration of digital channels: 61% of respondents believe they have an integrated approach to online and offline marketing, while an even larger proportion (79%) feel that digital channels are integrated into their annual planning and budgeting process.
Digital Gets One-Third of Budget
The average percentage of marketing communications budgets allocated to digital channels by the survey respondents is 31%. The results reflect a broad range of budgetary allocations: while 59% allocate between 1-30% of their total marketing budget to digital, 21% allocate more than half of their budgets to the channel.
When considering the average proportion of digital marketing budgets allocated to paid media (40%), the responses were even more varied: while 37% allocated 20% or less of their budgets, 31% spent more than 60%.
Other Findings
- When asked to describe the level of digital knowledge within their organizations, only a minority of respondents classified it as excellent (9%) or good (34%). Many felt that it was average (41%), while 16% described it as poor (13%) or very poor (3%).
- Surprisingly, 61% of respondents said that digital training is a low priority for their organization generally, compared to just 6% who said that it is a high priority.
About the Data: 171 US and UK digital marketing and e-commerce managers from 15 different sectors who are corporate Econsultancy members completed the online survey. Respondents were recruited by email. Some traditional marketers responsible for digital marketing also took part in the survey.
