How Are Australian Marketing Budgets Being Spent In 2013?

This week Simon O’Day, Vice President Responsys Asia Pacific got in touch with us to share with us a snapshot of how Australian marketing budgets are being spent in 2013 (see infographic below). The data is from the Responsys global annual Marketing Budgets report conducted in partnership with Econsultancy.

It is not surprising that 71% of companies are planning to increase their digital marketing spend this year. However, it was interesting to see that one of the largest challenges to further digital investment was actually company culture. We decided to ask Simon a few more questions about the interesting findings from this report and where marketers with limited budgets should focus their attention.

It is surprising to see that a third of marketers find company culture a challenge to further digital investment, why do you think this is? What advice do you have to these marketers to try and combat this?

The Responsys Big Australia Report outlined that a lot of digital experts don’t see the right level of leadership and direction from their bosses. When you mix that with company culture the future can feel bleak. My suggestion is – ask your leadership team what their vision is for developing a more customer centric focus with more automation and digital engagement. Then ask how they see this as a business and revenue growth driver. If they cannot clearly articulate an answer – get on LinkedIn and start looking for a new role where this vision is answered by a leader. The simple truth is that the lag in new technologies and digital success is from a lack of leadership. With the advent of SaaS technology, the argument about not being able to afford sophistication is simply not valid.

You mention digital investment in email marketing is increasing (engagement/retention 65% and acquisition 60%), are there any common mistakes that you see marketers making when it comes to email campaigns?

Mass marketing is the biggest mistake a marketer can make. As budgets continue to grow, marketers continue their quest to scale to the masses by increasing the volume of emails they are sending. Marketers have lost sight of the consumer becoming engrossed with sending campaigns. Today’s consumers are savvy and demanding a new kind of relationship – they have much higher expectations of how they want you to engage with them.

Some of our readers have limited marketing budgets or are beginners when it comes to digital marketing, did you have any advice for them on where to focus their attention?

Limited budgets continue to challenge marketers in Australia. As the Responsys Big Australia Report points out, the majority of marketing departments are constrained by staff and budgets. Regardless of how large or small your marketing budget is – the same principals apply. To be successful, companies need to move from sending communications via a single, siloed channel in an ad-hoc manual fashion to using more automation and better targeting. Successful marketers will be those who dedicate resources towards forging real, individual relationships with consumers. For example, automated marketing programs can overcome the need for IT driven system messages for communications like purchase receipts or welcome messages. Using an interactive marketing platform can turn one-off siloed emails into sophisticated, reportable automated programs.
 

Marketing.com.au would like to thank Simon for taking the time to answer our questions and also for sharing this interesting snapshot with us.

 
Please click on the infographic below to view a larger size.
 

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Calie Salter

Managing Director at Marketing.com.au

Calie is passionate about all things psychology, marketing, web, social and research. She is also the Managing Director and Co-founder of the Melbourne based digital agency Clickify.

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