How the Pandemic is Altering Marketing -- Again
Meera Blueprint -- 10-22-2020
Marketing is a premium catalyst for most businesses, depending on which type of marketing is used the ROI could be 0 or get all the way up to 10x. Covid-19 has expedited change across the world, so how has Covid affected marketing?
Marketing positions in C-Suite have been on the way out in the previous few years and been replaced by “Senior Marketers”, not in an executive role. But when Covid hit, large companies like McDonalds, NatWest, and Telstra have reinstated the role in this unprecedented time.
In a recent CMO survey, the expected marketing hiring dropped to -3.5% which was the historical low since the survey was created. 24% of the CMO’s surveyed said those positions that were terminated were not anticipated to return. These CMO's surveyed that answered in this direction, are primarily in transportation and consulting in B2B product/services
So, hiring is down and not expected to come back for at least 6 months, how has actual marketing dollar ad spend faired during this decrease in marketing personnel? Marketing expenses have grown since the pandemic started, the average company surveyed had 11.3% of their budget allocated to marketing, but in June it was 12.6%. This could be attributed to a lower overall budget skewing the chart, but they are still allocating it at a higher proportion.
This is not surprising, during the recession in 1981, the companies that maintained or increased their marketing grew by 275% when compared to those companies that cut back. In addition, in 91’ those firms found as much as a 70% increase in sales after the recession.
The big difference is the permanent change to digital and customer experience marketing rather than traditional. A happy consumer is a loyal and long-term customer. This effort is to push brand loyalty during economic hardships, so when we come out on the other side they keep their existing base. Customer experience marketing increased from 15.2% to 16.7% in just 4 months.
33.5% of those same CMO’s said that “Increased value placed on digital experiences will never change”. So what are they doing? They are pouring money into influencers and social media. Nearly 25% of the entire marketing budget is going towards social media, over a 75% increase from pre-pandemic levels. In the same vein, they expect nearly 13% of their marketing budget to be dedicated to social media influencers in 3 years.
These forward-looking statements from the marketing titans is a clear signal as to how marketing has changed. Social media is continuing to be its own economy, and it is only growing and benefiting from the stay at home economy. Mobile marketing spends increased by 70% during the pandemic and is expected to be over 25% of all marketing budgets next year. This is compared to 13.5% in pre-pandemic levels.
The confidence these CMO’s have in their future of marketing spans industries and size. The survey has a sample from every industry you could image, from Tech to Education, to Retail. Their respective sales revenue ranged from $100BB+ to less than $25MM.
If you want to follow the trends, follow where the leaders of tomorrow are putting their money. That is social media marketing and mobile.
Learn Something
Slides from CMO Survey: https://cmosurvey.org/results/special-covid-19-edition-june-2020/
Importance of Marketing During Recession: https://getpracticegrowth.com/the-importance-of-marketing-during-a-recession/
How Businesses are Using Influencers: https://www.singlegrain.com/content-marketing-strategy-2/guide-influencer-marketing/