A new survey concludes that digital marketers plan to ramp up their spending in 2015, even though measuring performance and results is still a challenge for many of them.
The report was commissioned by gShift, developers of an analytics platform for digital marketing professionals, and surveyed more than 700 digital marketers that took part in a recent webinar.
According to the results, 70 per cent of respondents plan to increase their search marketing budgets in 2015, while 25 per cent said their budgets will stay the same and five per cent are expecting a decline.
![What are your search marketing budget plans for 2015? (gShift chart)](https://i.itbusiness.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/screencapture-66.jpg)
While they’re spending more, measuring the performance, results and outcomes of that spending remains a struggle. Just 10 per cent said they were are able to measure their digital marketing efforts and investments through the entire sales funnel. Half of respondents were measuring their campaigns by tracking leads and conversions and 35 per cent are measuring traffic and clicks. And five per cent weren’t measuring any results at all.
![How are you currently measuring performance of your search marketing campaigns? (gShift chart)](https://i.itbusiness.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/screencapture-65.jpg)
And many digital marketers still aren’t talking a mobile-first approach. While nearly half of respondents said they’re incorporating mobile strategies into both their search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns, some 30 per cent didn’t consider mobile use at all.
![Are you incorporating mobile strategies into your SEO and PPC campaigns? (gShift chart(](https://i.itbusiness.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/screencapture-64.jpg)
“Measuring performance and integrating mobile strategies is an ongoing challenge for most digital marketers. With these survey findings, it is safe to say measuring performance, results and outcomes of digital marketing efforts and investments is still something all digital teams struggle with at some level,” said Krista LaRiviere, CEO and co-founder of gShift, in a statement. “This represents a significant opportunity for the industry to apply strategic, tactical and technical tools to measure performance and help prove the value of digital marketing investments.”