Mar 3, 2009
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) recently completed a study showing the effect the recession is having on the marketing industry. This is the second part of a two-part study, the first part was taken back in August of 2008 and asked if marketers thought their budgets would increase, decrease or remain the same in the next six months. Marketers were asked the same question again at the start of 2009, and the ANA is looking to analyze how the 2008 budget predictions compared against the actual budgets for 2009. This new study reveals that “more companies are identifying cost savings and reductions (93% as opposed to 87% six months ago) and that 37% of respondents today plan to reduce budgets by more than 20%, up substantially from the 21 % of respondents in the first survey.”
According to the study, the top five areas where marketers plan to reduce costs or expenditures in marketing and advertising efforts are:
- Departmental travel and expense restrictions (87% versus 63% in the previous survey)
- Reducing advertising campaign media budgets (77% versus 69% in the previous survey)
- Reducing advertising campaign production budgets (72% versus 63% in the previous survey)
- Challenging agencies to reduce internal expenses and/or identify cost reductions (68% versus 63% in the previous survey)
- Eliminating or delaying new projects (58% versus 61) in the previous survey)
Fortunately, online marketing is one of the most cost-efficient types of marketing out there today, which means that even though advertising/marketing budgets are being cut by over 70%, the remainder of those budgets are being used to create effective online marketing and social media campaigns. If you are a marketer facing these deep cut-backs, let me share with you a few strategies that are cost-effective, and have not only been weathering the recession, but have proved to be extremely successful.
- Social Media Marketing - There are many benefits to engaging in social media. Social Media applications, like communities, social networking sites, and word-of-mouth marketing are proving themselves to be a rich new marketing technique that needs only a poor man’s investment. These sites depend on an abundant resource - your customers - rather than a scarce one - advertising dollars, and with all of the new ideas for social media evolving, you may find these strategies improving all aspects of your business.
- Online Video - There has been a significant increase in video marketing over the past few months, and heard all of the chatter about the value of video from marketing experts, but did you know that video marketing, or social videos, are also an extremely valuable SEO tool? That is a 2 for 1 deal!!
- Mobile Marketing - eMarketer forecasts that mobile social networking will grow from 82 million users in 2007 to over 800 million worldwide by 2012. “Along with the rapidly growing audience, marketers are drawn to mobile social networking because it creates a unique context in which to promote their goods and services,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and co-author of the report. “It goes beyond simply linking people with digital content by adding the immediacy of sharing with friends—a very powerful marketing proposition.”
By focusing on getting the highest value for their budget, Marketers can still develop highly successful campaigns and return measurable results, IF they focus their campaigns on the cost effective space of Online Marketing. Hopefully this will be one of the final pushes CEOs and CMOs need to get off the fence and really dive deep into a strategic social media plan.
