Report: Most Marketers Struggling to Find Multi-Channel Strategy Success

It’s becoming more important than ever before for marketers to connect with customers and prospects across multiple channels. However, new research indicates that many are failing to achieve the objectives associated with utilizing existing multi-channel strategies.

Ascend2 recently published “The State of Multi-Channel Marketing” report, and statistics suggested that the majority of marketers (67%) only consider their multi-channel marketing strategy to be “somewhat successful” at achieving strategic objectives. Creating an effective strategy (48%), insufficient budget/resources (46%), and data quality (37%) were named the top challenges in this area.

That being said, most marketers (59%) agree that they currently have “the right amount” of channels in place. Over the course of the next year, the majority of respondents (55%) believe that social media, in particular, will contribute most to business growth.

Balancing Paid and Unpaid Marketing Channel Investments

When it comes to investing in various channels, previous research suggests that more marketers are beginning to allocate their budgets toward paid ones.

Gartner conducted “The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy 2022” report, and data indicated that most digital marketing spend (60%) now goes toward paid channels. In particular, 10.1% is dedicated to social advertising, and 9.8% is spent on search advertising.

However, marketers are not abandoning unpaid channels altogether. Approximately 8.5% of marketing budget allocation goes toward SEO, and 7.8% is used on email marketing. The same percentage is dedicated toward content and messaging.