• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 13, 2023

There is one sure way to determine what marketers are up to: track the topics they are researching.

Bombora did that with its Marketing Pulse Q4 2023, a study released on Friday.  

Email personalization fares pretty well, but it is dwarfed by these increases in Q2 YoY: 

• Content Personalization — +522% 
• Real-Time Personalization — +185%
• Site Personalization — +64% 
• Email Personalization — +56%

Here is some perspective: The study notes that “Site Personalization, which occurs when a website’s look and feel is tailored based on user preferences, saw a 90% increase in research in Q2 2023 compared to the previous quarter.”

It adds that this quarter’s “jump in Email Personalization research from 2022’s weekly averages highlights the continued relevance of personalized emails in engaging customers effectively.” 

We’ll say: From B2B to B2C, only 15% of audiences say they are committed to a particular brand.

In the case of AI, the study offers a raw number instead of a percentage increase: it says “a whopping 69,866 businesses conducted research into AI content generation in Q2, further demonstrating the wide-scale interest in AI-driven content creation strategies.”

Among healthcare marketers, the main research topics are:

• Content Personalization — +437%
• Digital Engagement — 294%
• Real Time Personalization — +278%
• Email Personalization — +142%

Meanwhile, over 60% of healthcare organizations see a “significant opportunity in building patient centricity.” 

The report evaluates data from Q2 202, running from April 1 to June 6. Data from the previous year runs from January 1 to December 31, 2022.

The Bombora Network includes 2 million companies — the study shows spikes in interest based on visits to any of their sites. This snapshot may be more accurate than studies that show what brands claim they are doing. 

Meanwhile, here are some raw numbers on spikes in brand topics:

• Brand Safety — 46,277
• Personal Branding — 23,744
• Brand Building Strategy — 18,802
• Brand Design — 16,476
• Brand Strategy — 11,206
• Brand Awareness — 9,206
• Brand Positioning — 8,503
• Brand Storytelling — 8,092
• Brand Management — 7,981
• Brand Tracker — 6.416

What does it all mean? “As the economic uncertainty that defined so much of early 2023 wanes, we are faced with an onslaught of news stories that make it difficult for brands to break through the noise,” the study states. “As a result, marketers are looking for new ways to reach and build meaningful relationships with customers.”