Good morning Marketer, what’s next for marketing?
There’s no denying that COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. economy has been staggering, with countless businesses placed on hold or even shutting down altogether.
To help marketers plan for what’s next, Forrester has laid out three possible U.S. marketing spend recovery scenarios: A late 2020-recovery, a mid-2021 recovery, and a late-2021 recovery. Of the three, the research firm predicts the most probable recovery will come at the end of Q2 2021. In the meantime, CMO budgets are forecasted to drop by $222 billion, with cuts happening across media, martech investments, marketing services, and headcounts.
According to the report, marketing technology that’s most likely to get cut includes demand-side platforms and data management platforms. But, marketing automation investments are expected to see a slight (3%) increase as CMOs shift their focus to solutions that deliver efficiency and optimization.
“With budgets and headcount reduced for the foreseeable future, marketers are focusing on conversion rate optimization, lead nurturing and customer retention campaigns,” said Benjamin Shapiro, a brand development and growth marketing consultant and host of the MarTech Podcast. He says the smart play is to focus on doing what you already do better as a marketing organization and try to reduce the impact of decreased lead volume.
There’s more below, including an update on Snapchat, which claims to have surpassed TikTok and Twitter in terms of U.S. reach.
Taylor Peterson,
Deputy Editor
