• by Ray Schultz , October 16, 2018

Email marketing came up third in effectiveness in a study of digital marketing strategies by Ascend2.

Of the 190 influencers surveyed, 47% see email as effective, versus 58% for content marketing and 50% for search engine optimization. Yet email ranks as the easiest tactic, seen by only 14% as difficult.

In contrast, data-driven personalization is rated as difficult by 63%, and content marketing by 49%. In addition, 41% see marketing technology usage as challenging, as do 40% search engine optimization. 

Less frustrating for the respondents are social media marketing (24%) and search and social ads (18%).

The top priority, chosen by 63%, is increasing sales prospects/leads. Second is increasing customer acquisition (55%).

In addition, 39% cite improving brand awareness, 30% cite improving result measurability and 25% cite increasing website traffic. 

The most challenging of those tasks is increasing customer engagement (49%), followed by improving result measurability (47%).

Of those surveyed 47% rate their digital marketing strategies as successful in achieving their priorities, and 49% say it is somewhat successful. Only 4% say they are unsuccessful.

That said, 64% report that their digital budgets will increase marginally over the next 12 months, and 24% say they will rise significantly.

Overall, 58% say their effectiveness is increasing marginally and 31% say it is increasing significantly.

Of those polled, 69% utilize a combination of outsource and in-house resources. Only 18% utilize in-house resources only, and 13% rely solely on outsourcing.