• by Sara Guaglione , December 17, 2018

Salesforce's fifth annual “State of Marketing” report found the growth rate of data used by marketing departments at media companies is projected to jump 50% year-over-year into 2019. 

That’s double the projection of 25% overall for the marketing industries in the report, according to Chris Jacob, director of product marketing, Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

The study, based on insights from over 4,100 marketers worldwide, found that marketers across industries are finding it challenging to balance personalization with the use of artificial intelligence and respecting customers' privacy.

Overall, marketers’ use of artificial intelligence has grown at a rate of 44% since 2017. However, only 30% of marketers are completely satisfied with their ability to balance personalization with privacy.

The six industries in the report include: retail and consumer goods, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and life sciences, communications and media and travel, transportation and hospitality.

The report aims to provide marketers with the necessary considerations and guidance they need for 2019.

Trends in marketing were relatively the same across industries in the report: “The scale of data is accelerating and identity resolution is paramount, the balance of personalization with AI and trust, and real-time engagement being crucial,” Jacob told Publishers Daily.

Media marketing teams in particular are utilizing AI more as well. About one-third of them are using it for marketing, roughly 10% more than the marketers in the study overall, Jacob said.

Some 87% of media marketers say personalization improves their overall marketing program.

Almost half of media companies represented in the report are going beyond industry standards/regulations to protect and respect customer privacy.

“It seems like media marketing departments are savvier in general, especially when it comes to managing and using data at scale, whether for AI or multichannel marketing to drive performance,” Jacob said.

The top metrics tracked by media marketers were, in order: revenue growth, web traffic and/or analytics, sales effectiveness, digital engagement rates and customer satisfaction metrics.

There were 288 communications and media marketing professionals included in the study.