Be careful what you wish for. That line could be the motto for many senior marketers who embraced the digital advertising market. The outlook for digital marketing services was stellar. Now, these marketers are overwhelmed with data, the pace of technological changes and the need to keep the skills of staff members up to par. The top-​level findings from the CMO Council 2019 Outlook and Intention Audit show the issues that most concern your clients this year and how they intend to resolve them.

Outlook for Digital Marketing Services

Focus on Improved Digital Marketing

The 100 marketing leaders who participated in the latest audit identified several key initiatives for 2019. The outlook for digital marketing services shows that digital marketing will occupy senior staffers in a big way. They plan to take the following actions to get the most out of their investments:

• Improved go-​to-​market processes and digital marketing capabilities 40%
• Better aggregating and utilizing customer data and intelligence 26%
• Upgrading digital marketing capabilities and proficiencies 24%

Targeting Data

It’s one thing to develop goals and quite another to achieve them. Marketing leaders know they face problems internally. Chief among them, at 43%, is the internal skill set that needs development. One outcome of digital marketing campaigns is the mountain of data to sift through. How can staff members expect to manipulate data effectively without training?

Then there is the issue of data unification. We all have legacy systems spitting out data in formats that do not want to play nicely together. For 40% of marketers, cleaning up data issues will demand financial and management resources.

Accessing Internal and External Resources

No department should exist in a silo these days. Senior marketers must reach across organizational departments to tap the resources who will support their budget requests. Over half of leaders in the audit noted the need to work smarter with peers to develop and use intelligence on consumer trends.

Based on the outlook for digital marketing services, marketers will also look outside the organization for additional intelligence. While 60% of CMOs will boost their internal training and development programs, 47% will bring in consultant and domain experts for presentations. And, at least 67% of CMOs will attend conferences, webinars and online courses.

The bottom line for many large businesses is that the digital landscape is difficult to navigate. The sentiment is echoed by small and medium-​sized business (SMB) owners. In the SMB Purchase Intent survey recently conducted by SalesFuel, which solicited opinions of over 1,000 owners and senior decision-​makers, nearly 18% of respondents indicated they’ll be purchasing marketing automation software or services. Similarly, over 16% will look into purchasing data analytics services. Hiring mobile app and website development services is also earmarked in the budgets of 18% of SMBs.

You can show prospects the value of your services by running a Digital Audit, available at AdMall from SalesFuel, and showing them where they stand in the marketplace. Then help them develop the kind of digital campaign they need to grow market share.