According to the seventh edition of Salesforce’s authoritative State of Marketing study, 81 percent of UAE-based marketers believe the pandemic has caused them to adjust or reprioritize metrics, which is higher than the global average of 76 percent.
Based on a poll of over 8,200 marketers in 37 countries, including the UAE, the study and its accompanying Tableau dashboards provide a view of how strategic priorities and challenges, marketing methods, and technology are evolving against the backdrop of economic and social change.
“As UAE and Middle East customer expectations have changed during the pandemic, marketers have taken on increased importance in guiding digital transformation in their organizations,” said Robbie Kearns, Senior Regional Vice President – Africa, Middle East, and the Mediterranean, Salesforce.
Also said, “With 81% of UAE-based marketers changing or reprioritizing metrics due to the pandemic, higher than the global average, their work is driving a cohesive customer journey across channels and devices, and enhancing marketing return on investment and attribution.”
Here are a few sample insights:
The events of 2020 and 2021 have altered practically every aspect of marketing for the great majority of marketers. There isn’t much that looks like it did before the pandemic, from the (overwhelmingly digital) avenues they employ to engage customers to their internal operations.
Despite the discomfort that change may bring, marketers remain upbeat about the future of their jobs and the impact they have on businesses. For example, 86 percent of UAE marketers believe their work is more valuable than it was a year ago, and 72 percent expect their company’s income to improve in the next 12 to 18 months.
Marketers have experimented with the strategies, tactics, and methods with which they engage during the past year, forced to cater to an ever more digital-first base of customers and prospects whose priorities and challenges changed at rapid pace. As a result, marketers grew increasingly KPI-focused as they sought to understand what works — and what doesn’t — in a drastically transformed world.
Because of the pandemic, 81 percent of marketers in the UAE said they’ve modified or reprioritized metrics. Customer satisfaction metrics, marketing/sales funnel, and content engagement are the most essential marketing metrics tracked in the UAE.
According to a separate, linked research of global respondents, 60 percent of consumer contacts will take place online in 2021, up from 42 percent in 2019. Marketers are reevaluating whether channels justify additional — or decreased — investment as the shift to digital interaction accelerates.
Unsurprisingly, as customers and prospects were subjected to various levels of device lockout, digital marketing channels received much more attention than before. Video, whether on YouTube, Twitch, or in the form of a recorded webinar, witnessed a significant increase in value. There’s little reason to think this trend won’t continue, with 81 percent of worldwide consumers and corporate purchasers planning to spend more time online after the epidemic than they did before.
Even events and sponsorships, which may be the most analogue marketing channel of all, are projected to undergo a lasting digital transformation. In 2022, marketers in the UAE expect 39 percent of their events to be virtual, with another 31 percent being a mix of virtual and in-person.
Reaching the appropriate target, at the right time, on the right channel is becoming increasingly difficult as customers’ digital expectations rise. To inform or even automate their processes, marketers are looking to a variety of data sources and related technology. In reality, UAE marketers employ 15 customer data sources on average, rising from 10 in 2020 and expected to reach 20 in 2022.
The relative usefulness of those data sources is altering as technology providers and governments place more restrictions — or even outright prohibitions — on the cookies that digital marketers have relied on. Since 2020, known digital identities, second-party data, and inferred interests/preferences have seen the most growth, while offline identities and anonymous digital identities have seen the most loss.
Among the many changes that organisations experienced in 2020 and 2021, the transition to working from any place — whether an office, home, or abroad — is possibly the most significant. In the United Arab Emirates, 83 percent of marketers say their organizations are implementing new regulations regarding remote work, with hybrid circumstances being the most likely post-pandemic scenario.
This transition, while seen as beneficial to staff happiness and productivity, is not without its drawbacks. In the UAE, for example, 75% of marketers think collaboration is more difficult now than it was before the outbreak. To handle this problem, 84% of UAE marketers said their companies have used new collaboration technology over the last year.
