Highlights from the Salesforce State of Marketing Report 9th Edition

I like to review Salesforce's thought leadership in the world of Marketing because it's thorough and informative. Recently they published the 9th Edition of the State of Marketing, which is comprised of feedback from 5,000 marketers worldwide "to understand the biggest trends, priorities, and challenges affecting marketers today" and can be downloaded at https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-marketing/ (direct link)

Here are my favorite highlights:

• "We're in a new wave of the artificial intelligence revolution — catalyzed by the generative AI gold rush — and marketers are leading the charge by embracing rapid advancements in the technology to better connect with customers and prospects. But AI isn't just marketers' biggest priority. It's also their biggest challenge."
• "Marketers rank AI adoption as both their number one priority and challenge."
• "Thirty-two percent of marketing organizations have fully implemented AI in their workflows, and an additional 43% are experimenting with it."
• "What constitutes a “personalized experience” continues to mature"
• "Only 48% of marketers track customer lifetime value (CLV)."
• Top Priority: Implementing or leveraging AI Improving our use of tools and technologies Improving marketing ROI/attribution Engaging with customers in real time Building/retaining trust with customers
• Top Challenge: Difficulties implementing or leveraging AI Engaging with customers in real time Building/retaining trust with customers Measuring marketing ROI/attribution Creating a cohesive customer journey
• "Marketers use an average of 8 different marketing tools and technologies."
• "The largest portion of marketing funds is spent on winning mindshare via advertising."
• "Advertising spend jumped three percentage points for B2B marketers and four percentage points for B2C marketers since 2022"
• "B2B and B2C marketers saw a three percentage point decrease in event and sponsorship budget allocations, suggesting teams are looking to improve visibility without the overhead of in-person activities"
• "At least one-tenth of budgets is dedicated to agency support, both B2B and B2C marketers have pulled back on the use of external partners since 2022, signaling marketers have less support and more work to take on themselves"
• Budget Allocation:

• "Marketers use an average of 9 different tactics across the entire customer journey"
• "Marketers engage customers across an average of 10 channels."
• "With the end of third-party cookies near, marketers, publishers, and advertisers are increasingly looking to first-party data (both known and anonymous) to understand their audience."
• 88% of marketers use customer service data
• "High performers are 2.5x more likely than underperformers to have fully implemented AI within their operations."
• Ranking of Marketers' Generative AI Concerns: Data exposure or leakage Lack of necessary data Lack of strategy or use cases Inaccurate outputs Copyright or intellectual property concerns Distrust in generative AI Biased outputs Fear that AI will replace my job Adherence to brand guidelines Difficulty learning how to use the technology Environmental impacts
• 88% of B2B sites are found through unbranded search, according to a survey of more than 450k businesses
• "A lifecycle approach is when marketers personalize content along the entire customer journey — from onboarding to retention and ongoing support."
• Personalization strategies used

• Top Marketing KPIs: Marketing/sales pipeline, Revenue Marketing/sales funnel, Web/mobile analytics, Customer retention rates, Content engagement, Customer acquisition costs, Customer satisfaction metrics, Customer referral rates/volume, Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Only 48% of marketers track customer lifetime value
• "B2B marketers allocated an average of 12% of their budgets on ABM programs" and "Six in 10 use ABM for customer acquisition."