OPTIMIZED: Head Of The Class

TekSystems said 23 percent of businesses are in this category, which it describes as having a "fully optimized digital marketing strategy to provide the best possible customer/user experience."

Top strategic digital priorities for this year: Digital advertising (54 percent), social marketing (40 percent), and company website design (39 percent).

Key digital marketing approaches for 2017: Social media (62 percent) and mobile (53 percent).

Top technology investment areas for 2017: Website, customer experience, and marketing operations – each cited by 35 percent of respondents.

"At the risk of over-simplifying, the primary delivery system for digital marketing is the website," which is why it should always receive high priority, said Gal Blount, a marketing consultant who until recently served as marketing manager at solution provider JDL Technologies, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Todd Gallina, vice president of marketing for solution provider Trace3, based in Irvine, Calif., said his company's efforts focus around the website. "When people show up to our website" to get information, he told ITBestOfBreed, it "needs to accelerate the conversation" and establish the company as an authority … "and I believe that our site does that."