Smart, timely and well-executed marketing strategy can pay off big time—but often what seems like great strategy turns into high-maintenance, low-performance frustration. New research from marketing data management, reporting, and analytics platform Beckon examines which approaches are panning out, and which ones are better left behind.
The firm recently released its second annual report using data to break down the actual effectiveness of the year’s most talked about marketing trends. The report examines more than $20 billion in marketing spend and performance data across 1,000+ brands in nearly every country to objectively separate marketing myths from strategies that really work.
In some cases, the data revealed strategies that deliver tremendous value to the business, which only a small number of brands are actively utilizing. Other findings showed the lessons brands learned and dramatic adjustments they made to maximize the impact of their marketing investments. In keeping with Beckon’s commitment to helping all marketers do more with less and make the most of every dollar, the report sets benchmarks for success and lays out best practices and recommendations.
Top findings from the report include:
Media pacing is a big issue
Most campaigns see a four- to five-week delay before cumulative actual impressions catch up to plan.
Paying attention to pacing is a game changer
Campaigns that maintain close alignment between plan and actual hit 117 percent of planned impressions, while using only 73 percent of planned spend. Conversely, campaigns that stray from plan hit just 87 percent of planned impressions, and use 86 percent of planned spend.
Content engagement increased 15 percent versus the previous year
The surprise? Total content posted by brands decreased by two-thirds. Brands are seeing better results while producing less content.
Average media viewability is around 54 percent
That means roughly 46 cents of every media dollar is wasted on ads that no one ever sees.
Brands that measure and monitor viewability improved it by 27.5 percent in a single year
However, only 8.5 percent of brands currently track it.
“If you want to make good, trusted decisions, you need good, trusted data,” said Bernardo de Albergaria, CEO of Beckon, in a news release. “Our goal in this report is for all marketers to have access to clean, comprehensive, accurate data they can track and trend against. Most surveys and studies reflect on what marketers are doing. We’re excited to report on what’s working. Because marketing is no longer judged by how much it does, but by the actual business outcomes it produces.”
Download the complete report here.
The Beckon data sample analyzed in the report comprises the marketing spend and performance data for more than 1,000 brands, representing over $20 billion in marketing investment across almost every country globally. The dataset includes all channels of marketing—earned, owned and paid media—as well as business outcome (sales) data and brand equity data, which was aggregated and anonymized for the report to ensure the privacy of Beckon customers. Findings are based on data captured from September 1, 2014, to August 31, 2017.
