• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 26, 2021

Engineers are a tough audience to reach. The most effective tactic for getting in touch with them — this year, anyway — is email, according to according to the 2021 Marketing to Engineers Survey by engineering.com. 

Email has emerged as the top channel, jumping six places to usurp search as their preferred tactics. Asked to list their preferred five channels for marketing in 2021, respondents chose the following: 

• Email marketing — 48% 
• Case studies — 39% 
• Social media marketing — 38% 
• Webinars — 37% 
• Search marketing (SEM) — 33%
• Video — 28% 
• Trade shows — 23%
• Content sponsorship — 22% 
• Blogging — 20% 
• Account-based marketing — 19%
• Thought leadership pieces — 19% 
• Banner ads — 11%
• Cost-per-lead programs — 11% 
• Mobile marketing — 11% 
• Contests/promotions — 5% 
• Print advertising — 4% 

Why is email suddenly on top? The study speculates that “As businesses grapple with re-opening the economy, many have switched from a more passive approach to reach their audiences (i.e., search marketing) to a more active one (i.e., email marketing).”

It also may reflect the fact that email is rated the most effective activity during the pandemic, as shown by these stats:

• Email marketing — 44%
• Webinars — 41%
• Social media marketing — 36%
• Video — 34%
• Search marketing (SEM) — 27%
• Blogging — 22%
• Case studies — 22%
• Account-based marketing — 15% 
• Mobile marketing — 12% 
• Content sponsorship — 10% 
• Cost-per-lead programs — 10%
• Banner ads — 6%
• Print advertising — 4% 
• Trade shows — 3% 
• Contests/promotions — 2% 

Moreover, email budgets are going up by an average 26% this year, up from 19% two years ago. But the bigger increases will be for video (44%), webinars (31%), social media marketing (30%), search marketing (29%) and case studies (27%). The overall average is 31%. 

Why isn’t email getting the biggest hike? “Most marketers have email marketing engines already in place, but their video production may still be in its infancy and require more resources to get started,” the study states. 

Building email lists is also a top goal, although far from the leading one. The respondents are trying to:

• Generate new leads — 74%
• Move prospects through marketing/sales funnel — 60%
• Grow brand awareness — 56%
• Build credibility and trust — 51%
• Educate leads, prospects, and customers — 50%
• Build new product launches — 35%
• Build subscribed email audience — 29% 
• Build social audience — 26%
• Grow wallet-share in existing accounts — 19% 
• Improve customer retention — 19%

But they face several marketing challenges:

• Content/asset creations — 44%
• Insufficient budget —38% 
• Lead generation — 35%
• Lack of live events, conferences, etc. — 34%
• Not being found often enough in search engines — 29
• Growing subscription list — 27% 
• Implementing new marketing technology — 23% 
• Earned media — 18% 

Now we come to the topic of which automation tools they’re using. They are:

1. Hubspot — 31% 
2. Marketo — 16% 
3. Mailchimp — 11% 
4. Pardot (Salesforce) — 10%
5. Other — 10%
6. Constant Contact — 8%
7. SharpSpring — 5%
8. Active Campaign — 3% 
9. Act-On — 3%
10. SendinBlue — 3% 
11. Eloqua — 3%

Engineers.com surveyed 94 marketers, representing They represented companies in manufacturing, software, and other engineering-related disciplines.