Marketing budgets are on the increase globally, with 84% of marketers planning to increase or maintain spend in 2015. But in Australia, budget constraints are top on the list of pressing issues.

 

Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing report surveyed more than 5000 marketers across the globe, including 252 in Australia.

The number of Australian marketers planning to maintain or increase their budgets in 2015 was about average (85%). Canada and Brazil had the highest percentage (both 96%) out of the countries surveyed, while the US had the lowest (80%).

In Australia, respondents named their top five areas for increased spending as:

1. Mobile applications (70%),
2. social media advertising (70%),
3. social media listening (68%),
4. social media engagement (68%), and
5. social media marketing (68%).

Salesforce noted that all top five areas for increased spend related to social and mobile, compared with a scattered mix of priority areas last year.

The most pressing issues for marketers in Australia differed from the global list, with budgetary constraints coming in at number one.

 

Top three most pressing issues in Australia:

1. Budgetary constraints,
2. new business development, and
3. building deep customer relationships.

 

Top three most pressing issues globally:

1. New business development,
2. quality of leads, and
3. remaining up to date with current marketing technology and trends.

 

Here is the full list of the most pressing business challenges globally:

 

 

Social media

The number of marketers who consider social media as “a critical enabler of products and services” has risen to 64%, up from 25% last year.

Globally, 70% of marketers plan to increase spending on social media advertising.

 

Mobile

Salesforce recommends that mobile integration be a key focus in 2015.

“Marketers who have integrated mobile report all other marketing technologies and marketing channels as more effective,” the company says.

• 68% of marketers have integrated mobile into their overall marketing strategy (up from 48% in 2014),
• 65% plan to spend more on mobile push notifications (up 32% since 2014), and
• 58% have a dedicated mobile marketing team (up from 35% in 2014).

 

Email

• 92% of marketers report positive ROI from email marketing,
• 73% consider email “core to their business”,
• 60% consider it a “critical enabler of products and services” (compared to 42% in 2014), and
• key metrics for measuring email marketing included: click-through rates (47%) and conversion rate (43%).

 

On the topic of email, Salesforce again stressed the importance of mobile integration.

This year, 24% of marketers said they used responsive design rarely or never (down from 42% in 2014).

“Small-screen friendliness must become part of every visual element in your marketing strategy,” the company said.

 

The following chart compares digital marketing channels and strategies:

 

 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Scott McCorkle said:

“The future of marketing is building cohesive customer journeys across sales, service and marketing interactions. It is more important than ever to connect with each person interacting with your brand, and personalise journeys based on their actions and preferences.”