Make digital marketing a strategic priority: Infosys

Digital marketing is firmly established within the business strategies of the majority of global organizations, with rising budgets and increased importance of multi-channel marketing driving impacts across the enterprise.

These are the key findings of a report, "Unlocking Business Value from Digital Marketing" in France, by Infosys and EBG, a professional community of business active in industry, services, media, marketing, telecommunications and IT sectors.

The study of around 100 digital marketing executives found that digital marketing in France is driving a more sophisticated approach to customer relationship management, with segmentation of different communities being used to drive targeted campaigns.

Key findings of the study include:
Strategic Management

• 93% of companies surveyed have already integrated their e-marketing strategy into their business strategy and, 89% of brands surveyed have an e-commerce platform

• In the last two years, online marketing budgets have increased by 8%, compared to a 6% reduction in offline marketing

Organizational Design

• In over half (56%) of the companies surveyed the marketing function reports directly to the CEO

• Over two thirds (67%) have appointed a digital marketing executive

Customer Relationship Management

• 85% of companies have implemented some kind of customer segmentation activity

• Analytics tools to provide a complete 360-degree view of the customer are planned for many industries; currently the lowest level of adoption is in the banking and insurance sector

• Currently, 53% of companies manage social media communities while a third are currently looking to address this

Multi-Channel

• Some two-thirds of companies surveyed are already equipped with tools to manage campaigns across multiple channels.

• Multi-channel marketing varies significantly by industry, with only 29% of banking and insurance companies having a multi-channel strategy compared to 86% of companies in services, leisure, tourism and hospitality

Recruitment

• Around half of the companies surveyed recruited people into their digital teams in the last year, with many looking to continue recruitment in the coming year

• HR policies are being introduced to retain and motivate these staff, with many companies concerned about losing strategically important people