• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 4, 2019

It’s no secret that brands are shifting their marketing dollars to digital channels such as email and social media. But are they effective at it?

Yes, depending on the channel, judging by Strategies, Tactics and Trends for 2020 digital marketing plans, a study by Ascend2.

Email and/or email newsletters are ranked as effective tactics by 42%. 

This puts email behind search engine optimization (49%), social media/blog posting (47%), social and social ads (43%) and personalization/content (43%). But email beats videos/motion graphics (33%) and AI/chatbots (5%). 

Overall, 57% say their digital marketing strategies are successful, and 38% say they are very effective. Only 4% rank them as failures.

What’s more, 40% say digital is significantly more effective than traditional media. And 47% say it is somewhat so. Only 13% feel traditional channels work better,1% significantly better.

And they plan to invest in digital marketing technology — with 53% who plan to invest moderately and 27% who plan to invest significantly. Only 15% are planning to begin spending, and just 4% are not planning to invest at all. 

But there are serious challenges:

• Increasing customer acquisition — 48%
• Increasing sales leads generated — 48%
• Increasing customer engagement — 38% 
• Increasing website visitor traffic — 35% 
• Improving customer experience — 31%
• Improving brand awareness — 29%
• Improving contact data quality — 27%

These largely coincide with brands’ primary objectives:

• Increasing sales leads generated — 54% 
• Increasing customer acquisition — 49% 
• Increasing customer engagement — 43%
• Improving brand awareness — 38% 
• Improving customer experience — 33% 
• Increasing website visitor traffic — 30%
• Improving contact data quality —14%

How do brands measure success? Here are the metrics:

• Cost per customer acquired — 50% 
• Conversion rate — 46%
• Engagement rate — 45%
• Campaign ROI — 37%
• Cost per lead generated — 35%
• Channel-specific traffic — 14% 
• Brand sentiment — 15%

The study also reports that 72% use a combination of in-house and outside resources to conduct their digital marketing. Another 18% do it all in-house, and 11% outsource everything to specialists.

• Engagement rate — 45%
• Campaign ROI — 37% 
• Cost per lead generated — 35%
• Channel-specific traffic — 14%
• Brand sentiment — 15%

The study also reports that 72% use a combination of in-house and outside resources to conduct their digital marketing. Another 18% do it all in-house and 11% outsource everything to specialists.

Ascend2 and its Research Partners surveyed 278 marketing professionals.