Lane Ellis

Gartner CMO Spend Survey Shows How Digital Budgets Will Increase In 2021
Within the next 18 to 24 months digital marketing budgets will return to business-as-usual levels, according to 57 percent of CMOs in recently-released survey data from Gartner, also showing 78 percent aggregate growth for digital ad budgets in the forecast for 2021. 44 percent also said that they face mid-year budget cuts this year due to the global health crisis. MediaPost

HubSpot: A Look Back at How COVID-19 Impacted Businesses in Q2
Up to 60 more sales team email has been sent during the pandemic, seeing open rates 18 percent above pre-COVID levels, with companies sending less email achieving the highest open rates — several of many finding of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released report data from HubSpot’s weekly performance metrics. HubSpot

The 10 Traits B2B Buyers and Managers Value Most in Salespeople
42 percent of B2B buyers value active listening when it comes to interacting with salespeople, according to recently-released survey data from LinkedIn (client), while 38 percent value problem solving, 38 percent confidence, and 34 percent who said that they value relationship building skills. MarketingProfs

Addressing the B2B void between product data and online sales [Survey]
52.8 percent of B2B professionals expect to add voice-controlled search technology to their customer experience (CX) program within the next 12 months, according to newly-released report data, while 44.8 percent plan to add live chat, and 39 percent expect to install new augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. Digital Commerce 360

B2B Wannabes: Most Brands Have A Customer-Centricity Gap, Study Finds
71 percent of B2B brands have digital experiences that don’t meet customer expectations and needs, while 82 percent have implemented a digital transformation project — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released study data. MediaPost

Global Advertising Market Expected to Recover in 2021
2021 will see global advertising recovering from losses brought about due to the ongoing pandemic, with 2 percent overall digital advertising growth forecast, and video growth predicted at 10 percent and social at 7 percent, according to newly-released report data from Magna Global. Adweek

AppsFlyer: App Retargeting Conversions Jumped During Coronavirus Lockdowns
Owned and paid re-targeting conversions rose by 31 percent and 35 percent respectively between February and April, illustrating how app installations climbed during the initial periods of the global health crisis, according to recently-released app re-targeting report data. Adweek

Key Insights: B2B content marketing decoded, top marketing technologies, and AI spotlight
Demand for webinars has increased among B2B marketers during the global health crisis, with 76 percent of marketers seeing webinars as an increasingly successful method of driving leads, while the top B2B content types are eBooks, white papers and guides — two of numerous statistics of interest to digital marketers in recently-released B2B marketing survey data. ClickZ

LinkedIn introduces new retargeting tools
LinkedIn has expanded its retargeting feature set, with new tools for video advertising and lead generation among the latest virtual engagement additions at LinkedIn (client), the Microsoft-owned firm recently announced. TechCrunch

Twitter now lets you schedule tweets from its web app
Marketers looking for alternatives to how they schedule tweets now have the option to do so directly within Twitter itself. Twitter’s rollout of what had been solely a test feature that began in November also includes the ability to save draft tweets, the firm has announced. The Verge

Would People Rather Watch an Ad or Share Their Email Address?
U.S. consumers prefer watching an ad over offering up their email address, with nearly 75 percent saying that they would choose a 30 second ad in exchange for free content, while only 25.4 percent said that they would rather disclose their email information, according to newly-released report data. MarketingProfs