• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 18, 2023

Consumer goods brands are revving up their digital marketing but face certain hurdles, judging by the Consumer Goods Industry Insights Report, a global study released Thursday by Salesforce.  

Of the companies polled, 77% will increase their digital marketing spend over the next two years. And 54% will budget more for retail media networks that place ads on websites and apps. 

The top five digital marketing channels receiving increased investment in the U.S. are:

• Social media marketing 
• Digital ads (e.g., display, search except for social media) 
• Email marketing 
• Retailer's websites and apps 
• Direct mail/print advertising

Email receives even greater emphasis in the Alcohol and Tobacco sector: 

• Email marketing 
• Retailer’s website and apps 
• Social media marketing
• Mobile messaging (e.g., SMS, push/group messaging 
• Direct mail/print advertisement tied with digital ads and digital audio

Meanwhile, email is tied for first place with social media in use in direct selling programs. 

There are several benefits to selling direct to consumers (D2C): 

• Better understanding of consumer behavior 
• Better brand management / governance 
• Build direct relationships with consumers 
• Better control over pricing 
• An incremental revenue stream 

However, there are several challenges to selling direct: 

• Consumer preference for shopping at retailers 
• Higher marketing costs
• Expanded customer service capabilities
• Lack of organizational knowledge on direct-to-consumer business model 
• Legacy technology

CP brands are also utilizing loyalty programs—70% have one, and 27% are planning to launch an initiative. 

One possible hurdle for CG companies is personalization. But most seem to have a grip on it: 76% say they can fully personalize consumer engagement. Another 22% can somewhat do so and 3% simply can’t.  

They have many data sources on which to draw: 

• Transactional data — 84% 
• Known digital identities — 82% 
• Second-party data — 82%
• Declared interests/preferences — 82% 
• Inferred interests/preferences — 81% 
• Third-party data — 77%
• Anonymized digital identities — 75% 
• Offline identities — 72%
• Non-transactional data — 62%

Email is also a factor in digital service, although not the top one:

• Social media — 83% 
• Phone — 80% 
• Online chat — 77%
• Email — 76%
• Video support — 75%
• In person — 74%
• Messenger apps — 70% 
• Text/SMS — 69% 

Salesforce surveyed 1,500 decision makers across the U.S., Canada, the U.K./Ireland, France, Australia/New Zealand, Germany and Japan.