With such a wide variety of marketing strategies available these days, clients are looking to diversify their advertising campaigns. But what is the right direction for your clients? For those unsure of where they should be looking to invest their resources, two advertising avenues you should suggest are mobile and social media marketing. These two advertising formats have grown in popularity over the past few years, and a new survey from CMO revealed that they’re set to grow even more over the next five years.

Why the shift to mobile and social media marketing?

“The role of marketers has continued to evolve, with marketers taking on more responsibilities,” wrote CMO. “With the pandemic forcing people indoors and increasing consumers’ reliance on the Internet, digital marketing was identified as a primary responsibility for marketers at 94.2% of companies. This increase pushed digital marketing above brand as the top responsibility for marketers in 2021. Across the board, marketers appear to be taking on more responsibilities than ever, with significant increases in responsibility in diverse areas such as marketing analytics, lead generation, market selection, and competitive intelligence.”

Every industry took a hit last year during the COVID-​19 pandemic. And with variants seemingly popping up left and right, living in a post-​vaccine world has at least somewhat subdued the marketing industry. Spending specifically related to mobile and social media marketing, CMO points out, grew during the pandemic.

“Marketing, both mobile and social media spend, have increased over the pandemic, but have dropped below the historic high measured at its height in June 2020,” wrote CMO. “Marketers agree that mobile and social media spend will continue to increase at an even faster pace in the next five years, reaching 34% of marketing budgets for mobile and 24% for social in the next five years.”

Therefore, if your clients have been averse to the notion of mobile and social media marketing in the past, there’s never been a better time to show them these two marketing strategies would be a great way to increase their advertising reach.

How much has mobile marketing grown?

When respondents to CMO’s survey were asked what percentage of their marketing budget they are currently spending on mobile activates, respondents currently said 18.1%. In the next 12 months, they forecast a jump to 23.1%, and in five years, that number will reach 33.6%. In a staggering comparison, that number was only 3.7% in Feb. 2017.

Industries leading in current mobile spend are:

• Retail/​Wholesale — 35.8%
• Consumer Packaged Goods — 31.2%
• Mining/​Construction — 8.33%
• Real Estate — 5%

Social media marketing uptick coming

Like the mobile space, social media marketing is expected to increase as well. CMO’s results showed that the current marketing budget allocation for social media marketing is 14.9%. Over the next 12 months, marketers expect that number to grow to 18.9% and in five years, it will be 23.5%. Again, the comparison back to Feb. 2017 showed that number at only 10.5%.

“Industries leading in current social media spend are Education (22.4%) and Consumer Packaged Goods (21.6%), while the Pharma/​Biotech (0.0%) and Real Estate (5.0%) industries lag,” wrote CMO.

These marketing techniques are growing at a rapid rate. A year ago, advertisers saw that when forced to make significant changes in a short amount of time, not only was it possible, but profitable.

How to effectively use these advertising tools

For starters, use AdMall’s Digital Audit, powered by SalesFuel. Being able to see a company’s digital presence, and where they’re struggling, will go a long way to show you’re a market expert. You’ll be able to show your client how to best use mobile and social media marketing to reach their desired target audiences.

Photo by Tracy Le Blanc from Pexels