The latest market research report by Salmat has given new insights into Marketing for Australians. According to its 2019 edition, around 49% of the people are today trusting the search engines. They prefer Google or Bing like search engines more, over the social media preferences or any recommendations by their friends or family.
This was the 1st report where trust over search engines was identified for any decision making, and this report also became the first to share the fact that Word of Mouth is no longer the most influential source of marketing for the Australian consumers.
Salmat Marketing Report 2019, evaluated 23 channels for marketing. And out of all, where search engines stood 1st, recommendations came 2nd (with 46% people preferring this option). This percentage has dropped drastically as compared to last year, where recommendations from friends and family was the most influential choice for 72% of Australians.
Search engines today are extremely popular. Yet, according to the report, this channel is highly underutilized. With this, the current report has highlighted one very surprising fact – the marketers are looking in a totally wrong direction for their lead generation. Only 28% of marketers are making investments in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and only 25% are investing in Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Salmat’s head of marketing and corporate communications, Shane McClelland, commented on this fact, “This mismatch between marketer and consumer behavior is surprising and is of course leading to challenges in reaching new customers. There’s so much change in the industry, consumers’ expectations are increasing and it’s really important for us, as marketers, to understand those shifts and changes so we can continue to get new customers into the business. ”
According to the report, around 54% marketers were instead investing in Social Media.