Social Beat releases digital marketing industry report 2016

87% brands leverage digital and 38% allocate one-third of their budgets on online marketing. Facebook and Google remain most the popular digital marketing channels

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | July 19, 2016

Social Beat, a leading digital marketing agency, recently released the digital marketing industry report 2016 which is based on a survey conducted in May-June. A sample size of 376 CMOs and marketing heads across India participated in the survey. The participating companies were from various sectors and verticals including e-commerce, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), media, entertainment, healthcare, education, real estate and travel.

Vikas Chawla

Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat, said, “The report highlights the rise of digital marketing though brands continue to use television and print mediums to have a 360-degree approach. It was encouraging to see that 87 per cent of the brands surveyed leverage digital marketing. While brand awareness and lead generation/sales seem to be the primary goals set by the CMOs, digital marketing is increasingly being leveraged for customer engagement (46 per cent) and customer service (35) too.”

The responses indicate that digital marketing spends are about one-third of the total marketing spends. The results are considerably different from the IAMAI–IMRB International Report that pegs the digital spends at 12 per cent of the total marketing spends.

Speaking about the survey, Suneil Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat, said, “Around 10 per cent brands surveyed spend more than Rs 1 crore annually on digital marketing while around 50 per cent brands spend more than Rs 6 lakh annually. Overall, 20 per cent brands plan to increase their digital marketing spends by 25 per cent in the next financial year. This is important in the context of growing internet and digital penetration in India – brands understand that digital is the way forward. With an expected 500 million internet users in India by 2017, brands understand the massive opportunity to reach out to their consumers.”

David Appasamy, Head of Brand and Strategy, Social Beat adds, “The survey reflects the growing acceptance of digital platforms as an excellent means of engaging meaningfully with consumers, generating leads and increasing sales. It was particularly interesting to see that the digital marketing channels are already contributing to more than 30 per cent sales for at least 40 per cent of the brands surveyed.”

Tracking return on investment (ROI) is the biggest challenge being faced by brands, closely followed by content creation, quality lead generation and attracting talent. Currently, CMOs are using sales/leads, engagement, brand reach and mentions as the metrics to track the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Most of the respondents said they focus on social media marketing, search engine optimisation, content marketing and mailers for marketing their brand online. Not surprisingly, Facebook (89 per cent) and Google (78 per cent) have emerged as the most popular platforms followed by Twitter (56 per cent) and LinkedIn (51 per cent). Penetration of smartphones, faster internet connectivity and interesting video content have resulted in 51 per cent brands targeting YouTube for marketing their products. It would be interesting to track the growth of newer channels like Instagram and Snapchat in India for brand marketing in the near future.

Vikas Chawla added, “Most of CMOs that took the survey felt that there is a lot of scope for improvement in quality lead generation, result tracking and creative campaigns. This presents a massive opportunity to digital marketers to fill the gap and help leverage the digital medium more effectively for brands.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com