Study Reveals Top Marketing Challenges

With the struggling economy, many indoor tanning salons had to get more creative to keep their businesses profitable, working at a deeper level with their existing resources and customers. A recent study identifies a welcome shift on the horizon, as top-level marketing executives state their biggest challenge in 2011 is “acquiring a large number of new customers.” This replaces what’s now coming in as the No. 2 challenge – increasing retention rates and revenues from current customers.

As the economy moves toward stability and recovery, more business owners are increasing their marketing budgets, which allows a greater emphasis on bringing in new customers. Other interesting findings from the research include the need to:

• better integrate online and offline data collection and analytics

• align sales and marketing

• deal with the new normal of constant change

Commentary on the study states: All roads lead to data. As complexity in marketing increases rapidly, a mega-avalanche of data is created through both marketing automation and other online and offline marketing and sales activities. The collection, aggregation, analysis and facilitation of practical usage of data require technological and human resources. Data analysis plays an integral role in providing the transparency and visibility essential to marketing organizations for accountability to budget and to demonstrate the beneficial results of marketing initiatives.

Michael Weiss, managing director of Figure18.com says, “It still surprises me how many organizations still do not get the power of a solid content marketing strategy and how it influences and strengthens the brand on the social web."

To review the entire "2011 Mid-Year Marketing Trends Study" from Los Angeles-based The Kern Organization, An Omnicom Agency, visit www.thekernorg.com/2011midyeartrendstudyresults. The information is available in traditional white paper PDF format and, simultaneously for the first time, in a video white paper format.