It’s “Back to School” time which means it’s time to hunker down at work and make the final push towards the end of the year. But what does that mean for your marketing budget?
MarketingCharts reports a 50% increase in 2017 digital marketing budgets compared to 2016 budgets, and that number continues to rise in 2018.
According to the 2017-2018 Gartner CMO Spend Survey, marketing budgets dropped to 11.3% of company revenue in 2017, from a peak of 12.1% in 2016, but the decline is for traditional types of marketing—digital marketing is still strong.
Of the CMOs surveyed in the Gartner study, 67% said they plan to increase their investment in digital advertising.
Why the budget inversions?
The proof is in the pudding. SEO has a 14.6% conversion rate compared to 1.7% for traditional outbound methods such as cold-calling or direct mail. (Omnicore, 2018) In addition, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) use Facebook, according to a Pew Research survey conducted in January 2018. (Pew Research Center)
With numbers like that, it’s hard to see why marketers would choose not to ride the digital marketing bus. But in reality, the complexity of managing digital campaigns causes many organizations to shy away. On the surface, it may seem easy, but execution is a challenge. It requires time and talent to understand the analytics, trained skill to create the content and the ability to know what channels and platforms will drive the right traffic for your business.
You’re either on the bus, or you’re under it.
In spite of the challenges, it’s clear that digital marketing is here to stay and that it has the ability, when done right, to be a game changer. As they say in school, “C’mon. Everyone’s doing it!”