Data for Digital Marketers Who Want to Be Ready for 2016
In other words, data for digital marketers who don’t want to waste time in 2016.We’re Doing it Again!
Last year, Semify surveyed digital marketing professionals and published the Online Marketing Trends: Ready for 2015 eBook. Because we found the data to be very helpful for marketing planning purposes, as did many of our SEO reseller partners and other industry professionals, we’re running the marketing trends survey again, in preparation for 2016. We will publish the results of the 2016 online marketing trends survey in a downloadable eBook once we’ve compiled the data.The Marketing Trends 2016 Data is Important, Because:
Benchmarking is an important way to understand the SEO/Digital Marketing Industry. Knowing what people in the industry experienced in the past year, and what they expect to happen in the coming year, is information that is important to consider when planning for the year ahead. It’s important to know things like:
- What small business clients spent on digital marketing in 2015, and where they allocated their budgets (SEO, PPC, Social, etc.)
- What agencies expect will happen with small business marketing budgets in 2016 (Will they go up? Go down? Or no change from last year?)
- The digital marketing services that small businesses are looking for when they hire an agency, i.e., the “in-demand” services.
- What small business clients want and what they can typically afford.
- Where agencies have the most success with lead generation (in 2015, 59% of agencies said SEO was a top source for leads!)
- The services that agencies typically outsource to SEO resellers (because some services are nearly impossible for small agencies to efficiently and effectively manage and deliver to small business clients).
Your Clients are Not Proctor & Gamble
You can easily find studies, data and reports of where big businesses spend their advertising and marketing budgets. Those numbers are in the billions! In 2014, Proctor and Gamble spent $4.6 billion. But you won’t find much data about small business marketing budgets--how much they have and where they spend it. Our marketing trends surveys are designed to uncover that data.
Our small business clients don’t have billions. Sometimes they have only hundreds to spend on SEO, yet, we do want to help them. Understanding what small business clients want, need, and can afford, based on the insight of others in the digital marketing industry, will give you a sense of what’s really happening in the industry, how you can help your small business clients, and how to efficiently manage your own digital marketing agency.Be Ready with Your Sales Presentation
The survey data is also helpful for agency professionals because we all need to do sales presentations for clients. When you know where small business owners are spending their money and where they’re holding back, you’ll know how to prepare your presentations so you can better educate your clients and prospective clients about services that will be most beneficial to them.Take the Survey, Maybe Win an Apple Watch
We’d love to hear from you. Please take the survey and share your observations about the digital marketing industry and we’ll send you the results. PLUS, you’ll be entered to win an Apple Watch;* according to cnet, the Apple Watch is “a beautifully constructed, compact smartwatch. It’s feature-packed, with solid fitness software, hundreds of apps, and the ability to send and receive calls via an iPhone.” To be entered to win the Apple Watch, all you have to do is take the survey and provide your contact info (email) so we can notify the winner.
A Final Uplifting Word about the Future of Digital Marketing
While small businesses don’t have an endless flow of cash to spend on marketing, there are 28 million of them in the US alone. And while small business budgets aren’t huge, they do spend money on digital marketing. Last year, our survey showed that 50% of small business clients spent between $500 and $2,500 per month for digital marketing.
Small businesses will likely follow the lead of the big spenders like Proctor & Gamble who each year, are spending more of their marketing budgets on digital marketing. At a June 2015 investor conference, P&G Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said, “We're shifting more advertising to digital media, search, social, video and mobile as consumers spend more time there..in general, digital media delivers a higher return on investment than TV or print.”
Digital Marketing Trends
In addition to publishing our 2016 Online Marketing Trends eBook (in early January), we will compare the 2015 and 2016 data so you can see how the industry is changing. Everyone who takes the survey will receive an advance copy of the results. And the winner of the Apple Watch will be notified by email. Thanks to everyone who participates in our survey!The Fine Print
*Winner must be a US Resident. Those who complete the survey and provide contact information will be entered to win. Apple Watch (Sport model) will be ordered and shipped to the winner. All national, state and local laws/regulations are applicable. All taxes (including income taxes) are the sole responsibility of winner. Employees of Semify and their immediate families (spouse, parents, children, siblings) are not eligible. We reserve the right to substitute cash value for the prize. Winner will be notified by email and announced on social media. Other terms and conditions may apply.