BY Kathy Crosett
The pressure to preserve profits never ends. Businesses have been reducing their spending across the board. They also need to improve the outcomes of their digital marketing projects.
The State of Digital Marketing
The CMO Survey is produced by Dr. Christine Moorman at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, along with Deloitte and the AMA. This fall, business leaders told Dr. Moorman that their marketing budgets stand at a new low: 7.7% of the total budget.
The good news is that leaders are committed to digital marketing spending and anticipate growth of 12.7% next year. As a percentage of revenue, some business sectors spend more than others on marketing overall:
- B2B Products 6.1%
- B2B Services 6.2%
- B2C Products 10.2%
- B2C Services 10.4%
Future Direction of Marketing Spend
In the coming months, businesses anticipate a 7.0% increase in brand building activity. They also expect an 8.1% increase in new product introductions. The education, retail/
These same verticals will make excellent prospects for media sales reps and ad agencies in the coming year. Understanding the decision-
With access to AudienceSCAN by AdMall, you can show prospects the types of advertising their target customers respond to. You can also access a full psychographic profile of specific audiences to understand how — and why — customers make their purchase decisions.
The Threat of Lower Profits
Despite CMO intention to boost spending on digital marketing projects, their budgets remain precarious. 46% believe that company leaders are likely to cut marketing expenses when profitability takes a hit.
The False Promise of Martech
This tendency increases the pressure on CMOs to make their investment in technology pay off. Businesses have signed up for martech in a big way, but they don't always have the results they expected.
Nearly 77% of businesses have access to these tools. And around 19% of the total marketing budget goes to marketing tools and systems.
The tools help users manage content, customer engagement, social media, and search engine optimization. How do the users rate these tools? CMOs give them a score of 4.8 out of 7, when measured against company performance.
This is not a strong endorsement. In fact, nearly 55% of CMOs admit that there’s a gap between the hoped-
This situation could mean opportunity for you. If you have expertise with using popular tools, you could pitch your consulting services.
Martech tools in two specific areas could yield benefits for consultants.
Social Media
One digital marketing project with strong outcomes might be a needed review of social media activity. The typical organization spends 12.1% of their marketing budget on social media.
Your client may be struggling to show a good ROI on these expenditures and the associated martech tools. With the Digital Audit tool from AdMall, you can show your clients what their competitors are up to. This angle may be successful as 25% of CMOs believe they have encountered a strong increase in rivalry this year.
AI
The latest technology twist for marketers comes in the form of AI. 13% of marketing efforts now rely on AI. CMOs report that using AI has allowed them to reduce marketing overhead costs by 8.9%.
However, they may encounter resistance by team members who fear the technology will take their jobs.
The best digital marketing projects for next year could be AI-
Image from Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.