As technology and social media continue to evolve, companies are investing more in educating themselves on changes in the influential sector, a new locally conducted nationwide survey shows. AKHIA, a Hudson marketing and business integration firm, led an online survey in December to examine strategies, trends and considerations for U.S. companies of all sizes in different industries to begin planning for 2016.
The results showed a push to keep apace with technology and focus spending on newer media. Forty percent of survey respondents said they plan to invest in communication technologies such as marketing automation, customer relationship management or other analytics tools in the near future. The increase in technology budgeting doesn’t stop there. In fact, four out of the five areas in which companies plan to increase spending involve strictly technology, including web and digital strategy, search engine optimization and communication technologies.
The survey, conducted by TRIAD Research Group, an independent market research firm based in Cleveland, featured 225 marketing and communications professionals from different segments, including health care, manufacturing and financial services.
Ben Brugler, AKHIA’s president, said the results were more validating than surprising. “This is exactly in line with what we were talking about with our clients,” Brugler said. These results go hand-in-hand with barriers that industries are shown to face.
According to the survey, 37 percent of companies identified poor infrastructure for collecting and analyzing data as their greatest barrier to measuring success, which is partially related to a lack of proper technology.
“What’s most telling about these results is that implementing the right systems and having the right people in place to not only track, but analyze data will be critical in the next five years,” the AKHIA report concluded.
What’s more, three out of the five areas respondents planned to invest in training were centered on technology as well. The first and most prominent was social media strategy, while digital marketing strategy and digital paid media trailed behind.
"That was our thinking, that marketing was going to be investing a lot in technology and digital databases, things that would be affecting their job,” Brugler said. “We were seeing it even with our own clients." A new reality.
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As technology becomes more of a normality for businesses, one specific facet is beginning to show its face, and it doesn’t look like the trend is going to slow down anytime soon.
In AKHIA’s survey, social media reigned as the biggest marketing trend affecting businesses. The survey found 41 percent of companies will definitely or probably increase spending for nontraditional advertising, such as social and banner ads.
At the same time, 28 percent of companies will definitely or probably decrease spending on traditional forms of advertising in the next five years, such as print, billboard and sponsorships. Social media was also the main thing businesses wanted to educate themselves on in the next one to two years to do their jobs more effectively.
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