Per ExactTarget's Marketing Cloud State of Marketing study, marketing budgets are increasing in five areas. Discover these five marketing channels and tips to increase your sales leads and revenue.

2. Salesforce.com released its ExactTarget Marketing Cloud 2014 State of Marketing
study that polled over 2,600 mid- to senior-level marketing managers across all
industries. 67% of marketers say their number one priority for 2014 is to increase
sales directly attributable to digital marketing campaigns, 64% are focused on
increasing email click throughs and open rates, and 61% want to increase their ROI.
Budgets are increasing in five areas:
• Data and analytics
• Marketing automation
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Content management
Tips for marketers to make 2014 the best year ever:
• Establish clear objectives
• Focus on customer engagement
• Look at how your customers are experiencing your brand
• Communicate one-to-one with your customers
• Personalize communications beyond email
• Develop a clear data strategy
• Get smarter about channel options and choices
• Evaluate email lifecycle campaigns
• Integrate mobile initiatives into your multi-channel strategy
• Define clear social marketing objectives
Persistent engagement with buyers is what drives revenue.
According to this study, email is the channel of choice to acquire new customers.
Mobile is the preferred channel for engaging with existing customers because it
cuts through the clutter of email and social. Phones and tablets are the preferred
platform to browse for products, contact customer service, participate in social
communities, watch videos, sign up for alerts, and download branded apps.
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The strategy is different for attracting and engaging prospects.
67% of marketers say that email is core to their business and the best path to
increase marketing ROI. 57% of marketers plan to increase the number of emails
they send out in 2014 with 49% of respondents planning to send over a half a
million emails in 2014. Expect more email in your inbox not just enticing you to
join their networks but to engage you with promotions, new products, loyalty
programs and retargeting programs.
While the role of email and mobile is clear, social remains an intriguing but
unproven. 66% of marketers claim that social indirectly impacts their business
performance but only 9% claim that it can be directly linked to revenue. 2014
will see the broader adoption of Google GOOGLE+, SlideShare, Blogs, Podcasts,
and Pinterest, in addition to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Marketers need to develop a credible strategy with measurable metrics that align
with the customers desired customer experience.
Marketers need to understand their target audience’s journey and lifecycle
experience to realize significant improvement in ROI and conversion, and
communicate with specific audience members at precise times.
All the investments in lifecycle, behavioral, and sophisticated campaigns will
not yield the real potential marketing has to impact a brand’s success if your
strategies and tactics are not aligned with your audience’s journey.
Take your marketing to the next level - contact Lori at 877.447.0134, x111.