It is clear the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound social and economic impact, driving changes which will shape society for years to come. One of these is the acceleration of digital communications, forcing organisations of all types to innovate.
With everyone spending more time online, it is now much less about individual touch points. Success depends on creating a journey and an experience that can reflect the audience’s relationship with your company.
Digital has become important like never before, but it’s had to adapt at pace.
At the start of 2021, we conducted a benchmarking survey asking digital marketeers in the built environment questions on their digital roles and focus, as well as the trends for the future.
From research and strategy to content and digital innovation, this inaugural questionnaire is the first of an annual survey placing the spotlight on challenges and opportunities within the ever-growing field of digital marketing.
Considering the current climate, it was surprising to see that just 40% of the survey takers had a digital first marketing strategy encompassing all channels, but with 35% reported to be working towards it we expect next year will bring a higher percentage.
The survey also highlighted:
- 67% recorded their digital spend increasing over the last 12 months
- Most responders believe content marketing will have the biggest impact in 2021
- 63% will increase the amount of budget they dedicate to research and insight
Our own offerings have adapted to the digital world, where once we would offer an FAQ page, we now set up two-way dialogues via live chat. Where once we created social media ads, now we develop holistic experiences, and the long term means to secure rewarding engagement. Today, instead of just creating a virtual consultation website to help a launch, we now deliver longer term community and stakeholder engagement.
We hope the survey encourages you to ask questions about your own digital communications, and we are more than happy to help you find the answers. Please do not hesitate to get in contact with us here.
We want to thank everyone that took part in our digital benchmarking survey, your time contributed to a £1,000 donation to our charity partner The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity.
Download the 2021 digital communications survey results
To take part next year and receive the 2022 results to measure against your own digital strategy, please sign up here.
