The FINANCIAL — Small-to-medium (SMB) size companies are faced with a complex set of marketing challenges as they look to drive the best customer experience, understand and engage their audiences, accelerate sales cycles, and deliver the fastest time to revenue, according to Oracle.
72 percent of SMB marketers believe modern marketing solutions that facilitate targeting, engagement, conversions, analysis, and marketing technology will result in better sales, according to the study.
When asked about the most important changes that have contributed to the formation of the modern marketer, 64 percent of SMB marketers identified the ability to track ROI. The maturation of digital demand generation and lead nurturing (53 percent) and the emergence of social media (52 percent) also are prominently noted.
55 percent of SMB marketers believe that the most important benefit that vendors can provide is communicating the value of their investment in technology. This critical element was followed by the importance of easy-to-use software (51 percent), and the need to reduce red tape and make it easy to do business (41 percent), according to Oracle.
In assessing the marketing state of their companies in 2012, 30 percent of SMB marketers indicated they were “strong” or “complete” adopters of modern marketing capabilities. For 2013, that estimation rises to 49 percent, and in 2014 to 74 percent of SMB marketers.
“Modern marketing techniques are enabling SMB companies to improve targeting, engagement, conversions, and analysis across digital, social and mobile channels through the use of technology,” said Andrea Ward, VP of Marketing at Oracle Eloqua. “As this survey showed, the majority of SMBs are in the process of accelerating their transition to modern-marketing practices. At Oracle we are committed to helping our customers drive the best customer experience, understand and engage their audiences, accelerate sales cycles, and deliver the fastest time to revenue,” Ward added.
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