Marketing teams are increasing their budgets for email campaigns, social and web content because they're seeing cross-funnel results.

If marketers are looking for directions to steer their digital campaigns this year, they should look no further than social media, email and custom content. GigaOm surveyed 300 marketers for the Workhorse and Dark Horses report, and discovered these three approaches are where brands are most likely to spend more of their budgets.

Social media marketing is getting the largest share of this increase – and rightly so, as companies get more of their referral traffic from Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Around 38 percent of respondents said this is where they are likely to spend more. Content marketing and email campaigns were listed second and third: 

  • 28 percent reported their spending more on content marketing 
  • 25 percent said they’re likely to increase budgets for email

The rest of the responses covered the rest of the digital gamut – SEO came in at a close fourth, with just over 20 percent responding this is where they anticipate beefing up their budgets, followed by various advertising strategies. 

But why are businesses spending more on these organic strategies, when they generally take longer to provide results? It’s because they are reliable and provide ongoing success. 

Digital strategies reach customers throughout the funnel

Marketers find email, social and content strategies have broad benefits and are good at reaching people throughout the sales funnel. They don’t just focus on awareness, acquisition, conversion or retention. They do all four, consistently.

According to the marketers surveyed by GigaOm, email content is the most utilitarian tool at their disposal right now. Over half of the surveyed marketers said email was the best way to retain customers, but 42 percent agreed it’s also a powerful way to get conversions. Moreover, 37 percent said email’s effective for acquisition, and 41 percent these campaigns for building brand awareness. Social media and content marketing are also powerful players across the board, putting brands in conversation directly with consumers who are looking for relevant information.

GigaOm Research

Brands have to go where the customers are

Companies also exhibit a growing reliance on digital campaigns to drive their business goals forward. The rapid rate at which consumers are migrating to the web for entertainment and education forces brands to invest heavily in web channels, too. Adroit Digital just revealed that consumers are more likely to watch video content online than on TV, and Pew Research found one in five check social channels for news updates.

Marketers need to shift toward online channels to reach their target audiences – and GigaOm’s data proves they are. Fortunately for brands, marketing strategies are also paying off on these channels by attracting new audiences, engaging them and converting them when they’re ready to buy.

Find out more about the successes companies are seeing across channels:

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.