Digital marketing maturity is a measure of how well a company has embraced digital marketing as a strategy for achieving its business objectives. It takes into account various aspects such as the company’s digital capabilities, organizational structure, processes, and culture.
For CMOs and their digital marketing organizations, the changes of the past few years have come fast, and their full impact has yet to be felt. Two big shifts stand out. The pandemic compressed several years of digital market evolution into a few months as consumers raced online to do everything from buying daily necessities to seeking medical treatment. At the same time, the data stream provided by third-party cookies, one of the critical supports of precision digital marketing, began to dwindle as the industry and regulators reacted to growing concerns about privacy. Meanwhile, consumers’ expectations for more customized, even personalized, outreach continued to grow.
Many companies responded to these changes with speed and agility. Others were slower to react. The big difference is the extent to which each company advanced its digital marketing maturity. ON24 released survey results examining digital maturity based on responses from more than 800 marketing leaders across 12 European countries. The survey found that top-performing businesses are backed by digitally mature marketing teams.
Digital maturity differs across Europe
Despite European countries sharing much in common, many areas differ, from language and culture to business behaviors and law. The survey reveals differences in digital maturity levels between regions. Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, and Spain) has both the highest share of advanced maturity scores and the highest share of novices. The Benelux region had no respondents scoring in the advanced range. These differences highlight that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving digital maturity.
Maturity correlates with business success
Analysis demonstrates a strong link between digital maturity and business success. Of respondents who significantly exceeded business goals, more than half (52%) had the highest maturity level, compared to just 15% of novices. This suggests B2B marketers who improve their digital marketing maturity can expect higher performance.
The majority of European B2B marketers surveyed adopt good practices. Close to nine in 10 (87%) have strategies aligned with both marketing and sales goals, while one in five use engagement and performance data to revise strategy throughout the year. Similarly, 85% set goals for tactics or digital experiences. Results in data and measurement are strong. About two-thirds centralize and standardize data from all systems and maintain a single customer view, and nearly seven in 10 report good or excellent visibility into marketing’s contribution to the pipeline.
Data and measurement
Data is essential for measuring performance against departmental and organizational goals. For B2B marketers, data helps them understand buyers and determine appropriate customer experiences.
An overwhelming majority of respondents strongly agree (64%) or somewhat agree (31%) that businesses with high-quality data achieve better results. Two-thirds (65%) centralize and standardize data from all systems with a single customer view. Only 2% report not collecting data or doing so incidentally. Eight in 10 (81%) collect engagement and action data from multiple touchpoints to understand buyers.
Marketers leverage data effectively. The majority (85%) use data to inform content and themes. The largest share uses data to drive interactivity and conversions (42%), while 23% use data for all these purposes plus strategy improvement.
All organizations face data challenges. Marketing data naturally decays over time, buyers input incorrect information, and values differ across systems. Organizations should stay honest and cautious with data rather than making unvalidated claims, since presenting inaccurate data damages credibility and leads to overestimating the impact of their effort. First-party data sources generate 1.5 times the incremental revenue from single placements or outreach, and double the cost-efficiency improvement, compared to companies with limited data integration.
First-party data and digital marketing maturity
The relationship between digital marketing maturity and first-party data is crucial. A more mature strategy is better equipped to leverage first-party data effectively, with the tools and processes to collect, organize, and analyze it for targeted, personalized campaigns. Mature strategies also leverage first-party data across channels, including email, social media, and websites, to create seamless customer experiences. In doing so, they increase customer engagement and loyalty and drive revenue growth.
In conclusion, digital marketing maturity and first-party data are closely intertwined. Companies that focus on both create more effective, targeted campaigns, resulting in increased engagement and revenue growth.
Want to raise your digital marketing maturity? Talk to our team about building on first-party data.