Online and Social Media Emphasis Grows

As the focus on marketing spend is magnified and marketers are asked to do more with less, marketers are continuing to increase their online and social marketing strategies, according to the CMO Council's 2010 State of Marketing report.

The global affinity network, which surveyed 600 of its members from across the world and representing most industry verticals, found that 46% of its members ranked investing in digital demand generation and online relationship building as a top initiative for 2010. The survey also found that 62% will be crunching customer data to improve segmentation and targeting. Most of the respondents plan on doing much of the heavy lifting internally or by specialized outsourced providers.


The survey also saw a significant uptick around online channel integration and multi-channel offerings that deliver the brand promise consistently across online, mobile, in store, and traditional channels.

The challenge for bankers and non-bankers alike will be to find the skill sets to successfully implement these strategies. With only 6% of those surveyed rating their online marketing performance 'excellent' and the majority trying to grow their capabilities, finding people with a successful track record is difficult.