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July 2022 - Media and PR

Seven in 10 businesses say their digital marketing has improved as a result of the pandemic: A study into the growth of the marketing industry has uncovered that 70% of the businesses polled feel their digital marketing has improved since the pandemic, with almost three-quarters of marketers saying that their strategy is now driven by insights derived from consumer data. 

The State of the Industry 2022: Modern marketing in EMEA survey by WARC polled over 700 marketing professionals to gain an in-depth understanding of how the industry is performing and progressing. This included a mix of agency, client-side, technology vendor marketers and media owner marketers.

The study found that multiscreening (53%) and video watching (50%) are recognised as the most significant consumer behaviours for the industry.

When asked which technology they believe will have the most impact in five years’ time, 53% of participants predict AI and machine learning to be the most impactful. In addition, augmented reality has had the biggest rise in terms of marketing professionals believing it to be the most impactful, from 23% in 2021 to 42% in 2022.

The research also found that 38% of marketers are preparing for the development of Web3, while 44% said they expect the metaverse to impact the marketing landscape within the next half decade.

When it comes to the metrics used to measure brand and business outcomes, the research found that marketers are not always using the best metrics available. The metrics used the most were found to be engagement (68%) business (54%) and attitudinal (30 per cent).

The survey also looked at the obstacles the marketing industry must overcome to progress, with 41% of those surveyed saying their skills are holding them back. In addition, 39% stated measurements to be a key factor that prevents growth, with 27% saying the 'fragmentation of the marketing ecosystem'.

The number of marketing professionals citing privacy requirements has decreased since 2021, from 34% to 21% found the research, with consumer concerns about privacy, ad fraud and ad blocking also seeing a reduction.

Opportunities

Gaming and audio appear to be the next opportunity in the marketing industry, with many citing them as being big consumer behaviours. However, the average percentage of investment that audio and gaming get from a typical marketing budget is less than 5%.

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