It’s no secret that in 2023 marketing budgets are being cut left-right-and-center and are about more than just reading through financial statements. We’re talking about easily observable trends, visible through the strategic shifts in the industry and the adoption of new marketing technologies. This shift is about something other than running out of cash but more about allocating resources to new tech tools and working smarter, not harder. Here are the statistics of this emerging trend:
- Marketing budgets fall from 9.5% of company revenue in 2022 to 9.1% in 2023.
- 75% of CMOs report being asked to do more with less in 2023.
- 75% of CMOs face pressure to cut martech spend.
- 28% of CMOs budgets will be spent on awareness in 2023.
Source- The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy in 2023, Gartner
“Many organizations realize that traditional marketing channels, such as broadcast and print, are less effective than they used to be. People spend less time in front of the TV and more time in front of their phone screens. Social media and Google searches are where investors turn for news, financial information, or to search for a new advisor.
Fresh Finance’s marketing technology tools can help marketing professionals deliver digital content to their advisors for website, blog, social media, and digital newsletter use. Our technology enables them to do more with less human capital and at less cost,” says Teresa Leno, CEO and Founder of Fresh Finance.
Today’s consumers are savvy, informed, and looking for engaging content – and luckily, thanks to advancing marketing technology, this can be achieved without breaking the bank. Just because fewer dollars are spent on marketing overall doesn’t mean the importance of marketing has diminished. On the contrary, marketing is becoming more innovative, leaner, and personalized, thanks to the digital revolution and shifting consumer habits.
“Marketers must seek martech solutions that make their lives easier while saving money. Our solution enables marketers to deliver investor-friendly content that is compliance approved, accessible, and ready for use by their advisors.
With ‘awareness’ being among the top KPIs for 2023, marketers have a real opportunity to showcase how their advisors solve problems using content,” adds Leno.
Among industries, CMOs have significantly shifted their marketing budgets in 2023:
- 66% changed investments in agencies, people, technology, and media.
- 82% reprioritized investments in digital channels.
- 59% adjusted offline channels.
- 53% were most likely to increase spending year-over-year in social advertising.
- 26% were most likely to decrease spending on search advertising.
- 70% shifted spend across core programs.
- 51% increased spending on marketing data and analytics.
- 22% plan to cut spending on demand generation and sales enablement.
Source- The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy in 2023, Gartner
Leno says that industry CMOs should allocate most of their 2023-2024 dollars toward technology and talent and decrease spending on outside solutions they don’t control since measuring KPIs is often tricky. More and more organizations are forming internal marketing agencies to benefit their advisors’ marketing versus relying on an outside vendor to ‘do it for them’ because they must justify spending and compliance oversight. There is more pressure on CMOs and their teams, leaving little room for mistakes.
She also identifies critical areas that CMOs must address in 2023 and 2024; technology optimization, growth (advisor adoption), yield and return on investment, and KPIs. It’s important to understand that marketing initiatives must benefit the organization and the advisors who bring in assets. Providing advisors with digital marketing tools to help grow their business is the easiest way to measure KPIs, justify spend, and ensure marketing budgets and positions remain intact.
Teresa Leno worked as a financial advisor and experienced firsthand the importance of financial education to help clients make more informed decisions before a crisis. Through her experience, Fresh Finance was started as a financial content marketing solution to help advisors validate their expertise through sharing content.
