Digital Marketing Optimization Survey: How Much Should You Spend and Where Should You Spend It?
An article by Buzz Internet Staff 
No Comments One of the biggest hot button issues making the rounds through the Toronto business marketing world lately has been, to paraphrase Shakespeare, “To optimize, or not to optimize, that is the question…” However, this is not as simple of a question as it may initially seem. Even if you make the choice to optimize your digital marketing department, then comes the litany of follow up decisions such as how much to spend on your efforts and what you should spend that money on in order to maximize its effect. When you’re a busy business owner, this can all quickly become overwhelming. Thankfully for you, we’re here to help make the process a no brainer.
Recently, we came across the ‘Adobe 2013 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey Results’ white paper (Available Here: http://adobe.ly/11IKgkc) and given the fact that this has been such a hot topic recently and the staggering amount of data presented in the paper, it almost felt like a sign from above that we should use it for this week’s post.
One of the most startling statistics presented in the report was that nearly 6 out of 10 companies (56%) are currently reporting less than a 2% conversion rate from their web traffic. However, as disparaging as this number may appear, there is a bright side as the very next graph shows a significant increase in conversion rates among those companies which spend at least a quarter of their marketing budget on optimization. Wondering what we consider a “significant increase” to be? We’re glad you asked, how does “more than double” sound? Or to be more specific, 39% of companies spending more than a quarter of their marketing budget on optimization reported conversion rates of 5% and above, compared to only 16% for those who spent 25% or less. Given this data, it seems as if we have found the tipping point (25%) and can safely say we’ve answered the question of how much you should be spending on optimization.
Now, every organization since the beginning of time has gone through the same fight every year when budget time comes and money needs to be allocated to various departments and subsections. This is an unfortunate but unavoidable fact of life. However, maybe we can make things a little easier by helping you justify your marketing budget requests. Let’s dive back into the paper and see if there’s anything in there that can help us figure out where we should be spending this money in order to maximize the value of each dollar we put into our Toronto business marketing optimization investment.
First, testing is king. Many people overlook or at least underutilize this valuable tactic when planning and implementing new marketing strategies. A simple, well organized testing program implemented now can save you a lot of wasted money and time that would have been otherwise wasted down the road. Early detection and avoidance of strategies which are destined to fail is a much more efficient optimization solution than trying to figure out what went wrong after the money has already been wasted and the reputational damage is done.
Finally, we have a two-for-one special here in the final section this post as the last two keys go hand in hand with one another. They are both related to relatively new marketing techniques brought to us through technology: mobile content and personalized content. Both the statistic provided by the Adobe paper and everyday experience across the internet make the lack of adoption in these two areas blatantly clear. The Buzz Internet team and other experts across the Toronto business marketing world have spent countless hours scratching our heads about why so many companies apparently recognize the importance of these technologies and yet still fail to take the steps in order to put them into use. If you’re already spending enough money, have a solid testing process in place and are still experiencing low conversion rates; this is the next area you need to look at.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below, we love to hear from all of you!