Challenges for Marketing Leaders: A Study Reveals Marketers’ Biggest Challenges
27 April 14:18
Channel V Media, a public relations and communications agency, has published its new report, “The Attention Economy: The State of PR and Marketing in a World Where Attention Is Now Currency.” The report highlights an unexpected challenge for marketing leaders: capturing attention. What used to be a relatively simple benchmark for good advertising and PR is now where marketers hit a dead end, reports "Komersant Ukrainian".
In fact, marketers report that capturing attention (62%) and differentiating from competitors (60%) have become even bigger challenges than generating leads (52%) and driving user engagement (34%).
There are three main factors contributing to these challenges: 1) the vast number of competing products on the market, 2) the growing number of media channels available for promoting them, and 3) the vast amount of content vying for the audience’s attention. For every new product or service launched, there are often several others that look and/or sound the same to a passive audience. This puts marketers in a situation where simply presenting their products to the audience is not enough—they must simultaneously differentiate them based on nuances that consumers often find difficult to perceive, especially given content formats that are shorter than ever.
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A new report from Channel V Media, conducted in partnership with third-party research firm Dynata, reveals how the attention economy shapes marketers’ strategies and budgets. It examines the different approaches marketers use depending on their industry, whether they target a business or consumer audience, and whether they optimize sales for immediate purchase or a long sales cycle.
“There’s a reason why we’re seeing a rush of buyers in traditional media and social networks right now: if you have people’s attention, you can influence them,” said Gretel Goining, president of Channel V Media. “Marketers fundamentally understand this logic. The first step in influencing an audience is capturing their attention. The second—and increasingly difficult—step is to say something else once you’ve done that.”
Companies want to be known
In a sea of offers that look and sound the same, communicating what sets a product apart from competitors has become one of the biggest challenges for marketers. This is especially true for those in the service industry, where customers often don’t use the service they’re buying until they’ve purchased it themselves.
Companies with “invisible” products (such as software and services) spend more to attract attention. In sectors such as manufacturing and professional services (i.e., financial services, advertising, and marketing), where differentiation is strongest, companies invest heavily in marketing to stand out. Thirty-five percent (35%) of manufacturing companies and 32% of professional services firms report annual marketing budgets of $4 million or more. By comparison, nearly half as many consumer goods companies (19%) invest that much.
Visibility, not just awareness, drives viability
Public relations has always existed to generate media coverage, but marketers now realize more than ever that media visibility creates more than just initial awareness. It generates sales and leads, informs artificial intelligence systems, influences stock prices, and more.
Media coverage directly impacts revenue in four different ways. When asked about the various ways PR directly impacts their business, the most common response from marketers was that it generates direct sales (62%). Fifty-three percent (53%) said that PR generates leads, 48% said it helps attract investors, and 39% said it influences their stock price.
Marketers use PR to enter new markets and new industries. More than half of marketers say that PR increases brand awareness in new industries (54%) and in new geographic markets (51%).
Companies can’t be everywhere their audience is, but they’re trying
Companies are not only investing more in marketing to attract attention, but they are also expanding their presence across more channels to reach their audience wherever they are.
Marketers rely on an average of seven marketing channels to capture their audience’s attention. Since target audiences are active across multiple channels, companies must meet them wherever they are. When asked to share the channels in their marketing mix, marketers selected an average of seven out of the 11 most common channels, the most common of which were: social media (89%), digital advertising (81%), public relations (76%), email (72%), traditional advertising (63%), events (60%), and influencer marketing (59%).
Capturing attention requires the right mix of owned, earned, and paid media channels. When the number of channels was limited to just three, marketers naturally chose a trio of paid, owned, and earned channels: social media (89%), digital advertising (81%), and public relations (76%), respectively.
B2C brands want consumers to buy quickly
B2B companies have longer sales cycles. The marketing channels they choose reflect this.
Consumer brands that want to reach a broad audience and drive quick purchases rely heavily on traditional advertising (68%) and influencer marketing (64%).
B2B marketers deal with longer and more complex sales cycles, so they need to focus on sustained engagement. Events (67%) and SEO (57%) help them connect directly with decision-makers and maintain visibility throughout the buying process.
Marketers are spending more to capture attention
Marketers recognize that attention is a limited resource, and they are allocating more of their budget to ensure they get it.
Three out of five companies report spending over $2 million annually on marketing, with 21% stating that their budgets exceed $3 million each year. These investments are expected to continue growing, as 78% of marketers say they plan to increase their marketing budgets over the next 12 months.
They invest most heavily in their priority channels. Among the channels in which they invest the most are digital advertising (17.5%), social media (17%), and public relations (16%).
“The Attention Economy” is based on responses from 250 full-time marketing executives in the U.S.
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