Research on UK SME usage and attitudes to online marketing

Over 188 UK small and medium business responded to Browser Media's survey at the London Business Show, providing insight into how SMEs are using and investing in online marketing today. We think you will relate to their findings.

79% felt the website was critical to their marketing, yet 28% are happy with their Google rankings and 4 in 10 are investing in their websites!

The survey highlighted:

SME managers and owners are familiar with social media marketing, email marketing and SEO. Over 50% manage their digital activities in-house and one third have Agency support. The least familiar online marketing tactics are content marketing, affiliate marketing and inbound marketing.

Summarising the research, Joe Friedlein, Founder and Managing Director at Browser Media said:

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New research shows key concerns of CMOs in modern marketing

It’s fair to say that marketing jobs vary quite drastically. I get to see that from an agency perspective every day. Where one marketer may get applauded in one organisation, the same actions in a different organisation might get them fired. It’s not as though there’s a ‘right’ answer to the marketing challenge, either. There are so many variables - market, brand age, business size, product, budget, belief systems and biases, let alone the senior management.

That said, with marketing evolving at breakneck speed, in the wake of changes in consumer behaviour and technology adoption, it’s always useful to look at what’s got the attention of other marketers to help inform our priorities.

Research source and methodology

In this new research by Deloitte and ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, they’ve distilled the responses down to the key drivers. Quick caveat: Let’s take this for what it is,…

Our roundup of the latest developments and advice in Modern Marketing

Earlier in March, CERN celebrated 25 years of the World Wide Web. So, it’s official, we can no longer call new media “new”. Yet despite the opportunities for digital media to deliver more relevant, contextual, responsive communications, a common theme in this roundup is that options for targeting through digital marketing are not being fully exploited by many.

Strategy and planning

76% of marketers don’t use behavioural data - this is the shocking finding in this new research from Razorfish. Reviewing the implications of this, Dan Bosomworth gives his 5 recommendations for a real-time marketing blueprint.

Digital Marketing budget allocations 2014 - this summary shows the proportion of marketing budget allocated to digital channels. There is a huge range in % spend on digital according to business sector and maturity. How much of your budget is allocated to digital media?

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How does your web timeline compare?

You have almost certainly heard that today marks the 25th anniversary of the invention of the web by Sir Tim Berners Lee and of course, CERN are celebrating this - see their timeline of how its evolved. This screen grab of the Next desktop computer used by Tim Berners Lee also shows how far the experience for users has evolved - no need for mobile responsive sites back then! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Screenshot of the original NeXT web browser in 1993 (Image: Berners-Lee/CERN)[/caption] On Smart Insights we mainly discuss how marketers can take advantage of the commercial advantages of the Internet. Many of these have been facilitated by the interactions between users now possible via social media as Tim Berners-Lee stressed in his interview with the Guardian this week. "The web's billions of users are what have made it…

What’s New in Marketing? February 2014 roundup

Each month we look to keep the focus of our actionable advice from the Smart Insights blog on new approaches to grow business across the customer touchpoints of the RACE Planning framework. In our roundup of marketing developments and advice from February 2014 we have a strong focus on how marketing can support growth across RACE starting with Growth Hacking and Fuelling Growth. I presented our research on approaches companies can use to fuel growth in my keynote this week at the Technology for Marketing and Advertising 2014 conference - the organisers made nice use of Storify for a summary of the event. We also met many Smart Insights members at our stand - it was great to chat to listen to feedback and get new ideas for content and services. In the talk I couldn’t resist using the analogy of how Virgin Galactic…

5 new digital platforms that consumers will be adopting and what opportunities  they give to marketers

Yep, you read that title right! A year in the tech world goes by fast, a lot of developments happen in 12 months. This means that now, as we're well into 2014, we need to be looking further ahead. It seems as if developers are coming out with new and improved Smart devices every day to exploit new levels of connectivity such as faster 4G and fibre Internet networks. Forget smartphones, now, we now have smart watches, smart TVs, smart appliances and even smart cars. So, what are the cutting-edge digital consumer devices to look out for this year, and what do they mean for marketers trying to stay on the cutting edge next year?

1. Smart watches

Easily the most buzzed-about gadget of 2013, expect smart watches (and their leaner cousin, smart bands) to…

Ideas for developing your digital marketing skills

In previous posts we have looked at how marketers can stay relevant by developing their digital marketing skills. Simon Swan asked Are you a T-Shaped Marketer? which is an interesting way of reviewing the depth and breadth of your digital marketing skills and I summarised another infographic showing how the modern marketer needs to be Part Scientist and Part Artist. We also interviewed online recruiters to find out what industries were looking for when employing digital staff and reviewed typical digital marketing roles in our marketing job descriptions outlines. 

In this infographic, we look at social media marketing skills . This shows how soft skills such as listening, nurturing and patience are just as important as some of the hard, technical skills. We're not sure they need to be 'superpowers' though!

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Fuelling Internet Marketing Success in 2014

Dave Chaffey summarised the research on approaches companies use to manage the Internet for marketing in this keynote from Technology for Marketing and Advertising 2014. This page collects the resources related to the research and the Fuelling Marketing Success talks to download if you were at the event, or if you couldn't make it. Download free managing digital marketing research report View the 7 Steps to Digital Marketing Nirvana summary infographic Download full Fuelling Digital Marketing Success keynote from Slideshare Download Practical Internet Marketing techniques decks for different business presented by Dave in the CRM/Multichannel Marketing Seminars from the Smart Insights Slideshare page …

Case study: How Formstack integrate their sales and marketing

In most companies, departments stay pretty close to their area of expertise. You each have your own superpowers and know your strengths. It’s difficult to get out of the comfort zone and not collaborate enough with other departments, but not doing so could be hurting your business. Without collaboration, you are missing out on vital perspectives that come from other aspects of your company. In marketing, you’re constantly searching for ways to improve communication and see into the minds of your customers. You can send out customer surveys and take the chance that you’ll get a decent, honest response. However, most of the time it’s difficult to get good qualitative insight from a survey. If you want to uncover hidden gems or issues your customers are facing, try collaborating with the secret agents of your business: your sales team.

 What is Smarketing?

Our marketing and sales…

From social media marketing to Google Analytics

Feeling jolly at Christmas, I wanted to be useful . And thought, if you find a little time in-between now and the New Year, it’s a good opportunity to do a little social media housekeeping. Here are immediate future’s top 14 recommendations (seriously, we are doing our tidy up too!) that will improve your social footprint no end. Get them all done and you’ll hit the ground running in January!

Verify your Google profile – Google+ made huge advances this year but try some simple updates. If you haven’t already, customise your URL so your company page is legitimate and easier to find and share.

Prepare for a crisis – While it’s quiet, take a step back and look at the risks and vulnerabilities in social. Where could you improve? How will you go about making change? Who else in your company could you tempt…