The State of Marketing 2017

The white paper goes in depth on three core competencies for the marketer moving forward – personalization, content & storytelling and marketing attribution.
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market Content market personalized personalized INCITE group responded Brand Real engage corporate responded custom
The white paper goes in depth on three core competencies for the marketer moving forward – personalization, content & storytelling and marketing attribution.
About manojranaweera

market Content market personalized personalized INCITE group responded Brand Real engage corporate responded custom
<p>The State of Marketing
THE INCITE MARKETING REPORT 2017
Personalization, Content, Storytelling and Attribution as the  
Core Competencies of the Marketing Department of the future
incite-group.com
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Introduction
Welcome to Incite Group’s second State of Marketing Report. This 
comprehensive white paper is based on original research. It provides 
keen current market insights and importantly, it also compares shifts in the 
market as well as in priorities from last year’s report.
The research highlights these changes as well as identifies new trends 
and areas of interest. These benchmarks will be useful in sizing up your 
strategies with those of your peers around the globe.
Incite Group recognizes that different users have different use cases and so 
we separate the corporate end-user marketers from the broader marketing 
community.
The international survey features respondents from every geographical 
region and across industry sectors including agencies, B2B & B2C marketers, 
and digital social media. 
The report focuses on three major areas that are key to marketing success: 
content and story-telling, marketing attribution, and personalization. These 
three topics remain the most important priorities for leaders in this field.
In fact, these three major themes are spotlighted, with each featuring an 
independent conference track, at the upcoming Incite Marketing Summit. 
It will be held in New York on October 24 and 25. 
The summit focuses on essential changes needed to market effectively, 
engaging customers who are tired of marketing. The agenda is built around 
the priorities of in-house marketers and features more than 60 senior 
executives from household name brands (American Express, Chobani, 
Denny’s, Hiscox, GE). 
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Methodology
The report is based solely on responses to a wide-ranging survey conducted 
from February through mid-April of this year. There were nearly 1,400 
respondents to the survey, a 23% increase from last year, with very high 
participation levels completing the entire survey. 
The survey was sent exclusively to the Incite Group’s readership, with no 
attempts to focus on specific job titles or geographies (though given our 
primary focus on marketing and customer experience, it’s not surprising 
that these functions made strong showings among respondents).
The majority of the questions were closed and the available answers were 
produced by the research with in-house marketing professionals conducted 
by the Incite Group year-round. Some open-ended questions were asked, 
though the only responses used in the white paper are those regarding an 
individual’s job title.
Throughout the survey we separated out the ‘in-house’ marketers from the 
rest of the marketing community. The respondents chose their classification 
through self-selection from their answers to the question “What type of 
company do you work for?” Those answering “corporate/end user” defined 
themselves by choosing that answer.
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
Who responded?
The Incite Group survey was conducted over a two-month period with 1,372 professionals taking part. 
They came from a variety of companies, industries, and locations from around the globe.
 
Most Popular Respondent Job Titles
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
60%
Marketing
Digital
Communications
Content
Business Development
Social Media
Customer
Other
Given the nature of the survey and Incite Group’s target audience, it was not surprising that more than a 
quarter of respondents were marketers—far more than the next several groups combined. 
The next most popular job titles were digital, communications, content, and business development, 
respectively.
There was a common theme among all respondents as the lion’s share function to create and provide 
exceptional customer experiences.
In subsequent sections of this white paper we break out corporate responses from the rest of the 
marketing community. This is done to highlight differences in approach and in opinion between in-house 
marketers and those in the broader marketing community. This highlights where there are parallels and 
distinct departures. 
You can see where each group stands on the issues and consider whether the in-house side has moved 
too slowly to adopt new trends or technologies or perhaps just deliberately enough where results have 
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not been proven. After all, the rest of the marketing community is trying to sell the in-house marketer on 
something and it will be their job to persuade in-house counterparts to make moves in mobile marketing 
with demonstrable results.
Most Popular Respondent Seniority
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
Director
Manager
Vice
Executive / Analyst / Associate
CMO
Chief (Non-CMO)
Other
 
As for corporate hierarchy, the respondents ranged from veterans in the C-suite to junior associates just 
cutting their teeth.
While there were a number of CEOs and other senior executives, managers and directors again 
dominated the self-identified seniority levels. Those two categories combined to account for four out of 
ten respondents. 
Geography
For the second straight year, respondents hailed from all around the world. 
Marketing specialists from the USA and Canada led the way, followed by 
mainland Europe, the UK, with Asia just behind. 
Respondent Industry
Given Incite Group’s large reach to a global, diverse audience of marketers, 
the survey respondents were again from a variety of industries. 
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But before we drill down into sectors, we asked respondents to broadly categorize their company. 
The Corporate/Brand designation topped the charts with Agency/Service Provider a close second. 
Together they accounted for 70% of respondents with MarTech firms third at 10%.
There wasn’t much change in terms of which industry groups they hailed from, with the lion’s share 
representing Incite Group’s core audience: the end user marketer that works for a large corporate brand. 
The biggest constituency came from the agency/service providers at 17%, unchanged from last year, and 
marketing tech firms again came third biggest group at 10%. Digital/social media/mobile jumped one 
spot to second place with 11%.
 
5%
10%
15%
20%
0%
Most Popular Respondent Industry
Agency 
17%
Digital/Social/Mobile 
11%
B-to-B/Corporate 
10% 
Marketing
Hi-Tech Industry 
9%
Education 
6%
Financial Service 
5%
Telecommunications 
5%
Retail/eCommerce 
5%
Healthcare 
3%
FMCG 
2%
Fundraising/Non-Profit	 1%
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
The best-represented industry, as one may expect, was technology. It was followed by education, retail/
eCommerce, and financial services tied with telecomm.
We asked respondents to self-select the type of company they worked for and whether they are an ‘end 
user,’ ‘in-house’ corporation or brand; an agency or service provider; a marketing technology firm; or 
something else.
As we continue our analysis, in many instances we break out the corporate responses from the rest of the 
marketing community. We do this to identify divergences in opinion as well as ideas where the groups 
are in lockstep. This may present some enterprising marketers with inspiration and ideas for campaigns 
to bridge the gaps. But it may also offer instructive opportunities to hit pause and reconsider whether 
some trends and ideas are effective in marketing to the corporate sector.
The most pressing issues in marketing right now
Brands can identify and communicate with loyal and so-called “super users” on mobile more easily 
than ever. But the upshot is those same consumers can and do readily drop brands and quickly cut off 
direct communications (by deleting apps or unsubscribing from emails) if there are problems with mobile 
communications and/or there are disappointing experiences. 
The most successful brands are tapping into this unprecedented amount of data about their customers 
and creating custom content and marketing to cater to the power user and often create evangelizing 
opportunities as well. 
And marketers tell Incite Group that the most pressing issues have changed a little bit in the past year 
since we conducted the first survey. One major change is the amount of topics that were high vote 
getters. 
Check out the results below for greater insight. 
Eight different categories received votes of at least 40% or more of all marketer respondents, classifying 
them as “essential” for this year and beyond. Part of that was structural as a couple of categories were 
split to get more detailed interest in personalization and content marketing. By comparison, just one 
issue received 40% of votes a year ago.
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Which Issues are Essential in 2017
0%
20%
60%
10%
30%
40%
50%
Personalization: 
Understanding Customers & 
Defining	A	Single...
Brand Storytelling
Building Immersive 
Customer Experiences
Personalization: Unique 
Experiences
Social Media For Customer 
Engagement
Content Marketing: 
Distribution
Content Marketing: 
Production
Sales Enablement: 
New Marketing / Sales 
Relationship
Internet Of Things For 
Deeper Customer Insight
Marketing Attribution
Total essential
Corporate essential
MarTech essential
Artificial	Intelligence	To	
Power Personalization
Virtual Reality & Augmented 
Reality
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That topic--Content marketing--was the clear leader a year ago and it remains a major focus, but this 
year we broke that out into two distinct areas: production and distribution. Perhaps the narrower focus 
kept it out of the top five topics. Instead, Personalization: understanding customers and defining a single 
customer view led the way with nearly half of respondents citing it as the biggest issue for 2017.
Brand storytelling made a big jump, up some six percentage points, to the second biggest issue from 
fourth place a year ago. The focus was particularly stark among MarTech firms, with 52% of these 
respondents citing it as crucial. That was the highest reading of any issue with either MarTech or Corporate 
respondents.
A newcomer to the survey—Building Immersive Customer Experiences—finished with a strong third-
place showing, garnering votes from 46% of all marketers.
The biggest overall leap was for Social Media for Customer Engagement, which is clearly becoming table 
stakes for many brands. It rang up a 43% reading as essential this year, jumping from below 30% in 2016. 
And MarTech execs said it was an even higher priority, with a 47% vote tally.
It’s not a huge surprise that immersive brand stories told via social media would attract votes. Clearly 
there is even greater emphasis on controlling the message and targeting specific consumers with creative 
content rather than simply sending ads or offers.
The biggest slide in the past year is Sales Enablement: the new marketing/sales relationship dropped a 
full 10 percentage points this year from 2016. It still registered a 40% reading, but as more companies, 
especially in the B2B industry, have removed silos and encouraged greater collaboration between the 
marketing and sales teams, it may simply not be considered as an essential issue for 2017 since the 
integration is already in place. In fact, some marketing executives have said as much to Incite Group 
reporters and on stage at the group’s conferences.
Still it clearly remains an issue for corporate marketers, 44% of them cited it as a major issue. That’s 
the third highest total among corporate issues and a full 10 percentage points higher than the MarTech 
reading.
Interestingly, the Internet of Things for Deeper Customer Insight led some other new categories with 24% 
giving it the nod, while Artificial Intelligence to Power Personalization and Virtual Reality and Augmented 
Reality brought up the rear. That indicates that many marketers don’t see AI, VR/AR as viable near-
term channels but given the emphasis on immersive customer experiences and storytelling, these are 
categories to keep an eye on.
Least Important Issues
In fact, these three categories were deemed the least important issues this year. VR/AR received an 
overwhelming 40% of all respondents saying “Not Important” and that includes a whopping 45% of in-
house marketers vs. just 31% in MarTech. Meanwhile AI was the next least important issue, pulling 27% 
overall. IoT wasn’t quite as negative at 17%, but that total is still less than its “essential” votes.
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Which Issues are Unimportant in 2017
0%
20%
50%
10%
30%
40%
Unimportant Issues All
Unimportant Issues Corporate
Unimportant Issues MarTech
Personalization: 
Understanding Customers
Brand Storytelling
Building Immersive 
Customer Experiences
Personalization: Providing 
Unique Experiences
Social Media For Customer 
Engagement
Content Marketing: 
Distribution
Content Marketing: 
Production
Sales Enablement: 
New Marketing / Sales 
Relationship
Internet Of Things For 
Deeper Customer Insight
Marketing Attribution
Artificial	Intelligence	To	
Power Personalization
Virtual Reality & Augmented 
Reality
incite-group.com/east
Real Engagement in  
the Age of Personalization
Cut through the noise with seamless, consistent and impactful interactions  
that truly impress your customer and build relationships
A CONFERENCE DESIGNED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE IN-HOUSE MARKETER
Learn:  3 in-depth 
conferences, 60+ major brands 
speaking, 4 themes, 17 exclusive 
case studies, and an agenda built 
by the marketing community
Network: 400+ peers in 
attendance, 70%+ working in-house 
at major brands. In short - useful, 
targeted networking you won’t get 
anywhere else
Collaborate: Establish 
relationships with key marketing 
executives at the biggest brands 
active in the USA today
#incitesummit
incite-group.com/east
Peter McGuinness
Chobani
Chief Marketing and Brand Officer
Jerome Hiquet
Tough Mudder Inc
Chief Marketing Officer
Russell Findlay
Hiscox
Chief Marketing Officer
Emily Culp 
Keds  
Chief Marketing Officer
John Dillon 
Denny’s Corporation  
Chief Marketing Officer
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
What Matters Most 
For 2017, Incite Group expanded the scope for the most important, broader themes, which we will 
expand upon in the rest of this report. We asked everyone to let us know what the most pressing issue 
will be for them in 2017. One thing is clear, the laser focus on better identifying, tracking, and using data 
to convert consumers is top of the charts.
More than a third of corporate respondents selected “understanding customers -and their journey - 
better”. In fact, the issue racked up about the same amount of votes as the next two topics combined: 
the move Towards One-to-One Marketing and Content Marketing: Scale Production and Effective 
Distribution. Brand Storytelling was a close fourth while Marketing Attribution and Understanding the 
Interplay Between Channels and Platforms brought up the rear. 
It is interesting to note that Content Marketing dominated the corporate responses in 2016 with 44% 
of the votes for Most Important Issue of the Year. It garnered just about 18% this year. Understanding 
Customers was not one of the response options a year ago but clearly is weighing the most on the minds 
of in-house marketers.
 
Which Issue is Most Important in 2017?
Understanding customers -  
and their journey - better 
36%
Towards one-to-one marketing  
and unique customer  
experiences 
19%
Content Marketing: Scale  
production and effective  
distribution 
18%
Brand Storytelling: Craft an  
authentic story that resonates 17%
Marketing Attribution & understanding 
interplay between channels  
and platforms 
9%
Other 
1%
Corporate respondents only
 
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
13
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
Content Marketing
What Is Your Budget for Content Marketing in 2017?
What is your Content Marketing budget in 2017?
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
60%
Les
s than
 
$1
00
,00
0
$1
00
,00
0 –
 
$2
50
,00
0
$2
50
,00
0 
– $
1m
Ov
er 
$1
m
Ot
he
r
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
 
When examining content marketing budgets for corporate respondents, 
it becomes apparent that the amount of money earmarked this year 
trails 2016’s set-asides. The only increase for 2017 is for budgets below 
$100,000, higher budgets decreased across the board while the number of 
budgets north of $1 million was little changed.
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Budgets for Content Marketing
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
Les
s than
 
pri
or 
yea
rSam
e a
s 
pri
or 
yea
r
Up
 to
 20
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
20
% 
to 
50
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
50
% 
to 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
Ov
er 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
 
Examining the budgetary plans more closely, you can see this trend illustrated in the chart above. Not 
only are fewer marketers spending big on content marketing, underscored by far fewer firms doubling 
their budgets, but many of them are not even spending as much this year as in 2016. 
The number of in-house marketers spending less than the prior year jumped seven percentage points to 
17% in 2017. 
The sky’s not falling, however, as the lion’s share of firms plan to spend the same as the prior year. That 
group represented 40% of votes, unchanged from 2016’s reading. And the number of respondents seeing 
a year-over-year increase between 20% and 50% as well as those forecasting bumps of 50% to 100% over 
the year ago period both rose in this year’s survey from 2016’s.
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
15
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
At face value it appears the total number of dollars from these two different groups of respondents is 
expected to be lower in 2017 than last year, with fewer bigger bets, but toes and even ankles are getting 
into the water with more medium-sized increases over last year. Marketers should also keep in mind that 
these are forecasts, we know that what people say in surveys, polls and even budgetary meetings are 
different from what they do. 
Perhaps skepticism remains on the validity of content marketing? Or chieftains are not yet convinced by 
the ability to quantify its effects. 
 
How is your ROI for Content Marketing?
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
60%
Perfectly
Well
To an extent
Not well
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
There were signs of improvements in the ability to measure the ROI of content marketing in this year’s 
survey versus 2016. The number of those who answered “well” to this question of measurement surged 
by more than half again as much to a reading of 31%, while those saying “perfectly’ tripled off of a 
marginal base to 3% this year. Perhaps this increase is responsible for fewer people this year selecting 
the non-endorsement response “to an extent.” The naysayers weren’t much moved, however, with the 
“not well category” still above one-quarter of respondents. 
 
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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10%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
0%
How important are these issues?
Consistency of brand story across...
Defining	your	brand	story
Content for brand awareness
Content for lead generation
New media formats: video, mobile...
Effective distribution and getting...
Scaling content production
Measuring the success of content...
Corporate respondents only
 
Is your leadership convinced of Content Marketing’s value?
30%
20%
10%
0%
40%
Absolutely
Largely
To an extent
No
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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But notice leadership, among respondents, is taking notice and endorsing the tactical use of content 
marketing.  There was a marked increase in this year’s survey from 2016 for those who “Absolutely” 
are convinced of the value, apparently stealing some voters from the “Largely” and milquetoast “To an 
Extent” answers. Plus there were fewer responses with flat-out “No’s.”
Content Is Still King
While assigning a value on the effectiveness of content marketing is clearly an issue, there’s little doubt 
that the content itself, remains of paramount importance. 
The most essential issue in Content Marketing, as cited by more than half of in-house respondents, is 
“Effective Distribution and Getting Content in the Right Places.” 
That is closely followed by “Content for Brand Awareness.” The next two issues go hand in hand, 
“Consistency of Brand Across the Organization” and “Defining Your Brand Story.”
So creating a clearly defined brand identity and connecting content that tells that story directly to the 
correct consumer is the current Holy Grail for content marketing. 
It’s only after these responses that the issues of creating “Content for Lead Generation” and “Measuring 
the Success of Content Marketing” come into play among respondents.
 
 Are you leveraging Content Marketing’s potential?
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
Yes - we’re 
leveraging content 
marketing’s full 
potential
Somewhat - we’re 
certainly seeing the 
benefit	of	using	
content marketing
To a limited extent 
- we see some 
benefit	from	using	
content marketing
No - we’re not able 
to	drive	real	benefits	
from our content 
marketing effort
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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How are you benefiting from Content Marketing?
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
70%
50%
30%
10%
0%
90%
80%
60%
40%
20%
Financially – 
Content Marketing 
drives revenue
Engagement – Using 
Content Marketing 
engages our customers
Brand – Content 
Marketing strengthens 
our brand
Meanwhile, despite a slight dip in the number of votes, two-thirds of those 
surveyed still see the biggest benefit from content marketing is engaging 
customers, followed by a strengthening of the brand.
Even as those two groups declined from 2016, the number of corporate 
marketers seeing financial rewards from increased revenue was on the rise. 
Still at just 27%, it remains a smaller number than many in the industry 
would expect. That may also go a long ways towards explaining the 
shrinking budgets and fewer bigger bets on content marketing.
The bottom line is clearly whether content marketing can move the revenue 
needle and clearly there remains skepticism among decision-makers and 
the ability to apply financial metrics creating visibility for clear ROI.
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
incite-group.com/east
Real Engagement in  
the Age of Personalization
Cut through the noise with seamless, consistent and impactful interactions  
that truly impress your customer and build relationships
A CONFERENCE DESIGNED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE IN-HOUSE MARKETER
Learn:  3 in-depth 
conferences, 60+ major brands 
speaking, 4 themes, 17 exclusive 
case studies, and an agenda built 
by the marketing community
Network: 400+ peers in 
attendance, 70%+ working in-house 
at major brands. In short - useful, 
targeted networking you won’t get 
anywhere else
Collaborate: Establish 
relationships with key marketing 
executives at the biggest brands 
active in the USA today
#incitesummit
incite-group.com/east
Peter McGuinness
Chobani
Chief Marketing and Brand Officer
Jerome Hiquet
Tough Mudder Inc
Chief Marketing Officer
Russell Findlay
Hiscox
Chief Marketing Officer
Emily Culp 
Keds  
Chief Marketing Officer
John Dillon 
Denny’s Corporation  
Chief Marketing Officer
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Personalization and the Single Customer View
The importance of personalization and delivering relevant, valuable customer experience remains a 
fundamental driver of the content spend we have been discussing.
After all, corporate survey responders indicated that creating content to match a consistent brand 
strategy and marketing it effectively to the “right places” is what they most care about.
Yet for all the talk of Personalization, there remains a disconnect when it comes to laying out cash. More 
than half of corporate marketers that weighed in for Incite said that they would spend less than $100,000 
with more targeted, custom contact and campaigns. That was actually higher than a year ago but in 
keeping with other budgetary trends, fewer companies are boosting budgets when it comes to spend 
above $100,000. The outlier is the lack of change among those spending north of $1 million.
 
 
Budgets for Personalization
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
60%
Les
s t
han
 
$1
00
,00
0
$1
00
,00
0 – 
$2
50
,00
0
$2
50
,00
0 
– $
1mOv
er 
$1
mOt
he
r
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
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Budgetary changes for Personalization Marketing
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Les
s than
 
pri
or 
yea
rSam
e a
s 
pri
or 
yea
r
Up
 to
 20
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
20
% 
to 
50
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
50
% 
to 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
Ov
er 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
There may be fewer big budgets for increasing personalization, but overall the trend shows faster growth 
than in content marketing in this area. Take a look at the graphic and you can see fewer companies 
cutting spend on personalization than in 2016, more companies are holding the line on their budgets, 
and overall growth including those firms doubling their investment in personalization shows an increase 
over the rate of change from 2015 into 2016.
Personalization and single customer view are efforts to fine tune marketing campaigns to more precise 
demographic groups but not actually creating individual messages for each customer as well as pulling 
data from across departments into one comprehensive, illustrative view of the customer in order to 
enable personalization efforts.
It is interesting to note that the ability to gauge the ROI for Personalization remains fairly low in the eyes 
of the Incite survey takers.  While the number of those saying “Perfectly” ticked up one slightly, there are 
still four times as many saying “Not Well”. The bulk of respondents still answered “Well” and “To Some 
Extent” but in both cases it was to a lesser extent than in 2016.
 
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Is your leadership convinced of Personalization’s value?
30%
20%
10%
0%
40%
Absolutely
Largely
To an extent
No
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
Nonetheless, nearly two-thirds of corporate marketers who responded indicate their executives see 
the value in personalization in slightly bigger numbers than just last year. That’s a pretty high level of 
confidence given the low ratings for measuring Personalization’s ROI.
Similarly, marketers say the rewards are not necessarily pecuniary but they do note Personalization is 
benefiting their brands through greater engagement and strengthening the brand itself.
 
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
23
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incite-group.com/east
Ability to measure ROI of Personalization?
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
Perfectly
Well
To an extent
Not well
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
How are you benefitting from personalization?
Engagement – Using  
personalization engages  
our customers 
72%
Brand – Personalization  
engage our customers 
47% 
Financially – Personalization  
drives revenue 
35%
Corporate respondents only
These factors all play into the Customer Journey, which marketers are focusing on so closely to try and 
boost those financial rewards by better understanding customer behavior on digital platforms. That is 
using available data and consumer preferences to surface and deliver more relevant and personalized 
experiences that in turn ring up more sales.
24
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Marketing Attribution
“Marketing Attribution” marries analytics with modern marketing skills (Personalization and Content). It 
is clearly the most data-centric area featuring Incite Group’s survey and upcoming conference: the Incite 
Marketing Conference East. These tactics are currently employed by a smaller group of marketers, but 
may be considered the wave of the future. After all, CMOs readily say how marketing is transforming 
into a data-led industry and new hires must be able to work seamlessly with data-analysis and traditional 
marketing teams.
Marketing Attribution budgets
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
60%
Les
s t
han
 
$1
00
,00
0
$1
00
,00
0 –
 
$2
50
,00
0
$2
50
,00
0 
– $
1mOv
er 
$1
mOt
he
r
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
Almost two-thirds of corporate respondents less than $100,000 in their budgets for Marketing Attribution 
as firms are allocating fewer dollars in this direction. The next bucket had a sizeable drop, where just 21% 
of respondents have six-figure budgets up to a quarter of a million bucks. That’s down from almost one-
third last year. There was a slight gain for budgets in the $250,000 to one million dollar range.
 
25
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Marketing Attribution budgetary changes
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Les
s than
 
pri
or 
yea
rSam
e a
s 
pri
or 
yea
r
Up
 to
 20
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
20
% 
to 
50
% 
mo
re 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
50
% 
to 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
Ov
er 
10
0%
 m
ore
 
tha
n p
rio
r y
ear
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
Clearly decision makers are taking a wait and see attitude. A growing number, nearly half of corporate 
respondents, said their firm’s year-over-year change in spending would be unchanged. But the second biggest 
group of survey takers, 15%, said they see a drop in this type of spending compared to 2016’s annual change. 
There were no respondents expecting to double their spending or increase it by more than that amount, 
while a handful do see large increases of between 50% and 100% (that category had 0 respondents in 2016).
The tide is turning somewhat, albeit slowly, if you look at responses to the question about measuring 
ROI. Those measuring it “Well” improved by more than 50% while respondents who say they can track 
returns “Perfectly” registered a small 2% but that was a vast improvement over 0 a year ago. 
Still it continues to trail the ability to accurately attribute ROI in other major segments, Personalization 
(6% said Perfectly) and Content Marketing (3%).
The numbers reporting “Not Well” or “To an Extent” dropped, but still make up nearly half of the survey answerers.
Leadership support appears to remain cautiously optimistic this year compared to 2016 even as the 
bosses are not apparently putting greater resources into this area. Interestingly, 32% of answers indicated 
leadership was “Absolutely” convinced of marketing attribution’s effectiveness. That was higher than 
Personalization (25%) and 10 times Content’s 3% reading. The song remains the same for brand bosses 
apparently, as our survey found for the second straight year that they have communicated greater support 
for the efficacy of Market Attribution over Personalization and Content Marketing combined.
26
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Can you measure ROI of marketing attribution?
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
60%
50%
Perfectly
Well
To an extent
Not well
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
Is your leadership convinced of Marketing Attribution’s value?
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
40%
Absolutely
Largely
To an extent
No
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Additionally, there was an uptick across the board in quantifying how 
in-house marketers were benefiting from marketing attribution. Those 
completing this section told Incite that the biggest change was a change 
in engagement, while brand strengthening and financial gains were also 
increasing this year versus 2016.
 
 
How are you benefiting from Marketing Attribution?
2017
2016
Corporate respondents only
50%
30%
10%
0%
60%
40%
20%
Financially – 
Marketing Attribution 
drives revenue
Engagement –  
Using Marketing 
Attribution engages  
our customers
Brand –  
Marketing Attribution 
strengthens our brand
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
28
Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
incite-group.com/east
10%
20%
30%
50%
60%
40%
0%
What’s the most essential issue in Marketing Attribution?
47%
Turning data analysis 
into actionable insights
19%
Customer journey 
modelling
37%
Testing and optimization 
to drive success
26%
Working with IT 
to create better 
technology...
43%
Reliability of 
online metrics
53%
Define	ROI	of	each	
channel / platform
40%
Understand the 
customer journey in 
more depth
Corporate respondents only
Given the overall insights into Market Attribution it’s not a big surprise 
that in-house marketers see the most essential issues in this category as 
“Defining ROI of each platform,” followed by  “Turning Data Insights into 
Actionable Information,” and then “Reliability of online metrics.” In other 
words tracking the marketing spend and figuring out how to efficiently and 
effectively market with the data gleaned through marketing activities. 
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Real Engagement in the Age of Personalization
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Conclusion
Marketers in all types of shops: in-house and MarTech remain intensely 
focused in their efforts on Personalization, Content Marketing, and 
Marketing Attribution. 
One divergence to keep an eye on is the apparent voicing of confidence by 
leadership in all of these areas but that is not translating into money where 
their mouths are, perhaps a sign that they are waiting for more visibility in 
ROI as respondents indicated engagement and brand strengthening are 
outpacing financial returns or this disparity in spending may presage an 
economic slowdown ahead. 
Regardless it’s a signal that strategic campaigns may win the day. While 
there are clearly differing opinions between different types of shops as 
well as executives and marketers as to the extent of investment in each 
category, there appears to be unanimity that these major themes and 
some slight variations will carry the industry closer to true personalization 
with custom content that can be more accurately tracked and quantified 
through tighter collaboration between market and data analysis. 
Opportunity to learn more
At the Incite Marketing Summit (NYC, 24-25 October), speakers from the world’s biggest and most 
successful brands will be sharing their insight – and skin-in-the-game experience – on how to leverage 
the unique benefits of personalization, attribution and content marketing. You can join them!
Click here to find out more
incite-group.com/east
Real Engagement in  
the Age of Personalization
Cut through the noise with seamless, consistent and impactful interactions  
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Tough Mudder Inc
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Hiscox
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Keds  
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Denny’s Corporation  
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</p>