International trends: what marketing professionals are currently focusing on

Within the framework of the Study series "What marketing managers want" has Rakuten Marketing 1,122 marketing managers from Germany, the USA, the UK, France and Asia were asked about the five biggest opportunities for marketers in 2018.1. use advertising euros more efficientlyThe marketing managers surveyed are convinced that 26 percent of their advertising euros are still being wasted on the wrong channels or strategies. Nevertheless, just 36 percent of experts would improve their own performance tracking, one of the biggest drivers for the efficient use of advertising money. Three quarters would rather switch platforms to achieve better reach instead.marketers should move away from reach as a success metric and instead focus on quality and ad performance. "Only when they know where and how their brand is shown and how the individual channels perform in comparison can they increase the efficiency of their advertising funds"emphasizes Stefan Bernauer. Advertising money is then also distributed according to channel performance.2. the world is not enough2018 marks the start of global marketing, marketing managers assure us. Six out of ten German marketers, for example, are planning campaigns for the European market this year; in France, the figure is as high as seven out of ten. According to the survey, only 48% of all marketing managers are focusing on their own market."Not only is there a lot of potential for better budget allocations here. Brands can also better communicate their own identity with international campaigns from a single source. Marketers would also do well to consider the culture in other markets. In Asia, for example, luxury brands play a much bigger role than in Western Europe"says Stefan Bernauer.3. innovations instead of dangersAccording to the survey, the hottest topics in the international marketing world at the moment are not the GDPR or ad fraud, but changing customer expectations (50%) and customer loss (43%). Marketing expert Bernauer sees this as an opportunity: "Increasing customer demands can only be met if the customer is given the focus they have been promised for a long time and is constantly inspired. Advanced marketing managers in particular are using new technologies to provide impressive impetus here."36% are investing in voice offerings, 28% in virtual reality and 24% in podcasts. However, Bernauer also sees a danger: "The fact that international marketers prioritize customer expectations over ad fraud and GDPR reveals how little they are currently affected by them. This is a dangerous conclusion that could cost them dearly in the long term."4. video becomes a trend, influencer marketing needs standardsMarketing professionals are increasingly moving away from text formats and investing in video marketing - six out of ten experts are firmly planning to use moving images in 2018. This means that the discipline is finally following influencer marketing. The discipline was the marketing trend of 2017, but is still in its infancy in terms of transparency. The majority of respondents neither know how the costs for an influencer marketing campaign are calculated nor whether a campaign actually promotes sales. Accordingly, they are planning just 5 percent of their budget for this marketing discipline in 2018.Stefan Bernauer: "Marketers are showing courage and openness when testing out new marketing formats and channels. That is commendable. However, video must not become another gray area for marketing ROI. Marketers should include clear parameters such as the view-through rate in the campaign evaluation right from the start. With influencer marketing, they now need to catch up on this process."5. seasonal does not mean traditionalSeasonal marketing has long been the key to sales success, but many marketers are now falling short. Experts in the UK (56%), Germany (59%) and Australia (58%) in particular now rely on year-round marketing campaigns instead of seasonal beacons. However, there are two exceptions: the traditional Christmas season and the shopping newcomer Singles' Day. For the Chinese e-commerce event, online shoppers spent 25 billion US dollars on Alibaba's platforms alone - more than on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined."This is why marketing managers from the USA and the UK are also increasingly focusing on Singles' Day. It is the ideal moment to enter into a global dialog with your own target groups"advises Stefan Bernauer. The marketing expert names two measures for success: "Marketers need to identify which products are particularly popular at the event. And their global performance tracking must provide reliable information about the success of these campaigns. Otherwise they will pay for it."About the study seriesThe present study results are part of the study series "What marketers want"conducted by Rakuten Marketing together with Morar HPI in January 2018. In the computer-based survey, 1,122 marketing managers from Germany (n=205), the USA (n=202), the UK (n=206), France (n=206) and the Asia-Pacific region (n=103) were interviewed. The challenges, expectations and strategies for marketing in 2018 were surveyed.the complete German study volume "What marketers want" from Rakuten Marketing can be downloaded here:https://rakutenmarketing.com/de-de/was-marketing-manager-wollen