Social tops marketing priorities for marketers in India

One of India's most prominent email marketing companies has revealed the findings of its third annual industry research report showing that, while email continues to be the leader in terms of ROI and lead generation, marketers in India are increasingly looking to multi-channel campaigns including social and mobile.

by Helen Leggatt

Three-quarters of marketers surveyed for Octane's Annual India e-Marketing Research Report: Spark the Surge agree that email and social are, by far, the "most effectual customer engagement tools", and these channels are being given high priority when it comes to doling out budgets this year.

Email has long been viewed as the most effective channel and 99% of the 500 top marketers in India participating in Octane's survey agreed. However, in 2013, email marketing will come second to social media which will be the top investment for online marketing in India. Almost two-thirds (65%)of marketers in the country intend to boost investment in social, up from 37% last year, compared with 57% that intend to up investment in email.

"India marketers are increasingly looking to integrate their campaigns across multiple channels. Our 2013 research shows that while marketers are investing aggressively in social, a lot still needs to be done towards mobile marketing readiness by organizations in India," said Samarth Saxena, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Octane.in.

"Email marketing continues to be the leader in terms of lead generation and ROI across channels and will see stronger investments in 2013."

Tags: 2013 outlook, email marketing, India, industry report, research, social media