By Jay Bemis | Advertising Systems Inc.
Though some advertisers are cutting back on their spending as concerns about inflation bring 2022 to a close, marketing executives seem to be more upbeat and optimistic about the year that lies ahead.
About 89% of chief marketing officers and senior marketing executives polled for a recent survey say they plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2023. Two hundred CMOs and senior marketing executives took part in the 2023 Marketing Outlook Survey, which was conducted by brand elevation company Matter Communications.
Nearly half, or 44%, of the executives polled by Matter said they plan to “substantially increase investments” in their 2023 marketing budgets.
Specifically, poll respondents — representing the fields of B2B technology, healthcare, retail, professional services and customer experience — were asked how they plan to manage marketing budgets, address economic challenges and engage customers as next year unfolds.
The Matter survey identified these five top areas in which the marketing executives plan to invest:
1) Public relations and social media
“It makes sense that this would be at the top of the list, as 69% of marketers said this was one of the areas that saw the greatest ROI over the past year,” say the experts at Insider Intelligence/eMarketer, which reported on Matter’s survey findings last week.
Estimating that social network ad spending will hit nearly $80 billion by 2024, eMarketer adds, “This number will likely keep growing as Meta and TikTok continue to enhance their ad offerings and social commerce abilities.”
2) Marketing operations/analytics/martech
The survey says that measuring marketing performance will be one of the biggest challenges for marketers next year.
The folks at eMarketer, meanwhile, say that though B2C investment in marketing technology has been slowing post-pandemic, “spending will continue at a robust level to equal nearly $15 billion this year.”
They add: “B2B martech spend growth will see a similar pattern as stacks evolve and mature. Still, the growth rate will stay in the double digits through 2024.”
(Stacks are suites of integrated technology tools that marketing experts use to drive new business.)
3) Content marketing
The survey says that 50% of its pollees identified content marketing as a key investment area for 2023.
The eMarketer experts say: “At this point, having some kind of content marketing strategy is table stakes. The question is what type of content resonates best and through what medium.”
They estimate that 85.6% of companies will use digital content marketing this year.
4) Video marketing
The survey says that 38% of the chief marketers who were polled identified video marketing as a top area of investment for 2023.
The eMarketer experts say: “According to our forecast, US consumers will spend 161 minutes a day with digital video this year, which will grow to 173 minutes in the next two years.
“ … We predict that video ad spending will grow by 8.3% this year, but shrink by 3.1% in 2023. Next year, national ad-supported video-on-demand, OTT/connected TV will see the most growth (32.7%), while local TV spend will decrease by 22.1%.”
5) Brand building
Matter says one-fourth of the executives who were polled plan to invest in building their brand in the year ahead.
“As inflation challenged spending habits this year, it has become increasingly important for brands to make their value known to consumers,” eMarketer says.
It notes similar findings from another recent report: “Over a quarter (26.8%) of US CMOs said that inflationary pressures have caused them to make stronger brand-building investments, per a survey conducted by Deloitte and the American Marketing Association (AMA).”
