Let’s take a look at some of the key findings from the research.

A positive outlook

Overall the future looks good for marketers in this region. As mentioned in the title, over half (60%) of client-side marketers surveyed said their companies have increased their digital marketing budgets this year.

Nearly half (45%) said their overall marketing budgets would increase (up from 40% last year), suggesting that digital is increasingly becoming a priority for investment.

In fact, the number of companies spending over half their marketing budget on digital has risen by 33% since last year, while the number spending over 70% on digital has increased by 56%.

Marketers are committed to investing in technology

Nearly all (96%) respondents agree that ‘a good understanding of technology is critical for senior marketing leaders’.

State of digital marketing ANZ

That said, only 14% of client-side marketers view technology as the most important area when it comes to being successful in the digital age. Nearly two thirds (62%) ranked it in their top three choices, however.

The pace of investment in digital marketing technology still looks strong, with 62% of respondents saying they have increased their spending. A third (34%) have maintained spending while only 4% have decreased it.

Where is investment going?

  • Customer relationship management (CRM) (43%)
  • Content management systems (41%)
  • Email platforms (36%)

Keeping the customer front of mind is still a priority

One of the key findings from the report was that marketers in the ANZ region are increasingly keen to put customer experience first when making decisions around digital and technology.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents agree that they ‘are becoming more customer-centric as an organisation’ and 64% agree that ‘personalisation is a major marketing focus in 2015’.

Customer-centric

For the full report please download ‘The State of Digital Marketing in Australia and New Zealand’