Australia leads its part of the world in the new age of advertising, taking on digital marketing techniques faster than any of its neighbours.

A recent study has gauged the level of adoption, traction and success of digital marketing with a six-month in-field program of both quantitative and qualitative surveys. It focussed on digital marketing in Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and India, with 276 senior marketers taking part.

Australian companies report solid support for the new wave of marketing techniques by corporate leaders, with customer preference, cost efficiencies and return on investment cited as the driving forces behind the swing to digital methods.

The report, compiled by Adobe in partnership with the CMO Council, does say that industry skill shortages and lack of investment mean the maximum possible adoption has not been realised.

“This year’s research shows more senior business leaders are getting behind the adoption of digital marketing and that is driving growth in Australia,” Adobe’s ANZ managing director Paul Robson said.

“The research shows senior leaders are basing their support not only on customer preference for digital but also on the promise of greater productivity, visibility and accountability for investment.

“They are now seeing proof of the promise for digital marketing to bring value and accountability to a major investment area,” Robson said.

“We are living in the middle of the digital revolution and people want to access content wherever they are and on whatever device they prefer to use. Marketers are leveraging the potential for digital marketing to deliver more targeted and personalised campaigns on any device.”

“But while investment levels are highest in Australia, marketers are also reporting insufficient investment and a lack of skills are preventing them from broadening their digital marketing strategies beyond some of the more standard metrics such as website performance (87%) and click through rates (77%).”

“These are excellent measurements, but important performance indicators such as churn rate and customer lifetime value are too low in priority, at 13% each. With further investment and better skills, marketers could be leveraging much more from the data they have to drive business results and demonstrate ROI,” ANZ’s Paul Robson concluded.

The complete report is available with registration from the CMO site.