Why it is important to understand the trends
As business models evolve, the future of digital marketing is exciting, yet uncertain. Investment and cost structures in digital marketing differ significantly from those in the physical market. We’ve seen over the last couple year how investment in technology has become a much higher percentage of digital marketing budgets; huge amounts of capital and time have to be invested to significantly improve the effectiveness of digital marketing companies and digital marketing activities across all sectors.
That’s why it now becomes critical to business success to identify the right business trends, and hence which technologies, in which to invest in your digital marketing strategy.
Our privileged vision
Following the above reasoning, it’s no surprise that companies must be fast to recruit the best people to sell or implement systems in all areas of the business, with digital marketing being one that is experiencing accelerating growth.
This trend becomes even clearer when you come into direct contact with the broader strategies of many clients across many sectors looking to attract and hire top talent in digital marketing. At CSA, we’re specialised in Executive Search in various technological areas, so our clients come to us specifically when they are looking for these highly-demanded positions, giving us a privileged position to observe what the trends are.
However, while we do get a glimpse into the future strategy and plans through our clients’ hiring executive hiring strategies, it should also be noted that we are more ‘privileged observers’ of current trends not of ones in the most distant future. That being said, one of the questions that most frequently asked in candidate interviews is their view about future trends! So this provides us with an additional perspective to add to what we already see across our client base, putting us a step ahead of many.
7 trends companies are investing in now
Where is business community investing? It seems to me that, based on our record of searches, in a descending order, the trends in digital marketing are as follows:
- Big Data is the area where the market seems to invest most heavily, maybe 2-3 times more than any other area. The technologies in this area typically include Data Mining, Analytics BI, and Data Reporting.
- Another huge area of research is Marketing Automation, including CRM, migration and automation and Web customization.
- Mobile marketing (mobile advertising, website development, and applications) are still strong in the market and likely to improve in the near future as well.
- Management applications for marketing communities (of which we’ve noted an even more rapid increase in the pharmaceutical sector).
- Marketing through Internet of Things (IoT)
- Search Engine Optimization and predictive personalisation (SEO or Organic Reach)
- Social media marketing, including social CRM and social care.
What these digital marketing trends mean for you
Understanding trends will allow smarter companies to acquire a strong competitive advantage. Although much has been done in the last 2-3 years, significant investment in these areas are very well what will set apart those companies that will continue to thrive in the next 3-5 years and those that will languish quickly.
Companies are competing to recruit the best people. A shortage of highly qualified talent in these areas is easy to predict; that’s why at CSA we’ve also been investing considerably more and more time in identifying those experts who will one day become our top candidates, allowing us to take advantage of our ‘privileged’ point of observation.
Written by Elio Gregori
September 2017 – Italy – Switzerland – Eastern Europe
CSA Partner for Italy – Switzerland – Eastern Europe
Tel: +39 349 430 2777, +41 79 5368048
Email: elio.gregori@continental-search.com