[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/11\/23\/defending-your-marketing-budget\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/11\/23\/defending-your-marketing-budget\/","headline":"Defending your marketing budget in 2023","name":"Defending your marketing budget in 2023","description":"With a recession looming, marketing budgets are at risk. What can you do to protect your budget? Top CMOs have some ideas.","datePublished":"2022-11-23","dateModified":"2023-03-23","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/david-rand\/#Person","name":"David Rand","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/david-rand\/","identifier":662,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27af23cf29ea2b57936ae1099d10f2b43bf9e7528abe792c2ae825d887981c44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27af23cf29ea2b57936ae1099d10f2b43bf9e7528abe792c2ae825d887981c44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Defending-Marketing-Budget-2023-FTR-optimized.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Defending-Marketing-Budget-2023-FTR-optimized.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/11\/23\/defending-your-marketing-budget\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/content-marketing\/","name":"Content Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Content_marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q558685"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/marketing-general\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]}],"wordCount":1041,"keywords":["2023 Trends","Advertising","Chief Marketing Officer | CMO","Digital Marketing","Marketing Trends"],"articleBody":"Marketers have enjoyed a boom economy for the better part of a decade. But with 86% of CEOs expecting a recession to hit in the next year, it\u2019s highly likely they will soon face unfamiliar pressure to limit or significantly reduce their marketing budget.While many eternal optimists say they’ll boost investments in 2023, the cold, hard fact is marketing budgets get slashed first in economic downturns because marketing and advertising are often considered to be soft or non-essential costs by organizations.Marketing budget: The ax loomsIndeed, we\u2019re already seeing a few early warning signs that the trend is set to repeat itself:About a third (30%) of major advertisers) are cutting their ad budgets for next year, according to a recent World Federation of Advertisers survey of 43 global companies. Nearly three in four said they’re doing that because their budgets face \u201cheavy scrutiny\u201d due to the economy.Marketers charged with running events, which are sometimes considered less necessary in tough times, are losing jobs. LinkedIn, for example, reportedly laid off 95% of its global events marketing team in August as part of a general restructuring.The CMO Survey, sponsored by Duke University, Deloitte LLP, and the American Marketing Association showed that inflation and declining optimism have already led 42% of US companies to cut their marketing budgets.      Report debunks ROAS obsession in e-commerce                If you're obsessing about return on ad spend in your e-commerce business, you're doing it wrong, according to a new report.      3 ways CMOs can protect & stretch their budgetWhile it\u2019s not certain a dire recession is coming, marketers nonetheless need to prepare for the possibility and think through ways to get the most out of their marketing budgets.I spoke to CMOs to get their take. Here are three ideas:Seize opportunities and show value\u00a0Demonstrate the downside of budget cutsDitch use-it-or-lose-it budget gamesThis content is hosted by a third party ( player.simplecast.com ).To view the content, either update your cookie preferences or view it in a new browser window.Cookie PreferencesNew WindowSeize opportunities as competitors cut backMatt Tredinnick, CMO and vice president of marketing for MopekaIOT, an IoT technology startup, says economic downturns actually present an opportunity for brands to innovate and stand out from competitors.\u201cFortune favors the brave,\u201d he says. \u201cWhilst those around contract their marketing spend, and as a result shrink their market visibility, others can prosper from the vacuum this creates.\u201dFor example, media outlets are sometimes more open to reducing their advertising rates, Tredinnick notes. Aggressive marketers can take advantage of this to step up their visibility while their competitors go dark.Of course, those holding the purse strings in organizations could still object to the idea of spending anything at all on ads when revenues are dwindling. But Tredinnick says marketers can overcome such objections by showing that ads build for the future.\u201cSecuring budget during a downturn really comes down to one thing: showing an ROI,\u201d he says.\u201cIf the team can show a direct and compelling ratio of marketing spend to revenue \u2013 like every dollar spent results in a ten-dollar return \u2013 then a finance department would be hard pressed to not approve that expenditure.\u201d      Delight doesn’t fly: Digital customer engagement for the future                Brands need to revamp their approach to digital customer engagement to reach the high bar of digitally native consumers.      Highlight the risk of marketing cutsSometimes the best way to protect a marketing budget is to show business leaders the risk with certain cuts.Amy Barzdukas, CMO of WiTricity, a wireless charging company, says savvy marketers build strategic programs that enable business and drive sales. If they\u2019ve done their jobs correctly, the financial success of their companies are directly tied to their good work over the years. As such, CMOs should be able to show how diverting budget from such vital work could hurt corporate prosperity.\u201cYou need to be seen as a driver of revenue, not a cost sink,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you’re seen as the team that does events and makes things pretty, financial retrenchment will be hard on you.\u201dEven with the best image inside of companies, though, Barzdukas acknowledges marketers could still face cuts \u2013 just like every other department. If that occurs, she cautions against \u201cwhining\u201d and advises teams to do their part to trim spending where possible.\u201cEvery budget, though we hate to admit it, has some discretionary spending that you can live without, at least in the short term,\u201d Barzdukas says.\u201cOffer cuts where they make sense and be sure to have some data behind it to justify those recommendations.\u201d      User generated content: Definition, benefits, examples                Building marketing campaigns around UGC can make them much more powerful. Here's what you need to know about this hot marketing trend.      Resist budget gamesToward the end of fiscal quarters, some department heads scramble to spend every last penny of their budgets, regardless of strategic need. The thinking goes that if they can show they needed all that money, they justify having it renewed for another three months. They also reason that if a company decides to trim budgets by a certain percentage, then they won\u2019t take as severe a hit in the end. These “use it or lose it” games do work, which is why they\u2019re fairly common in many organizations. But Pete Hayes, CMO and principal of Chief Outsiders, strongly recommends against such practices.\u201cThe CMO needs to lobby for the right things for the business,\u201d he says. \u201cThey need to partner with the CFO and not play politics around the budget process.\u201dHayes goes even further to say CMOs should embrace budget cuts where they make sense, but at the same time, redirect and even boost spending on programs that enable new market opportunities. His company typically increases spending in downturns.\u201cWe also adjust pricing, make promotional offers, and increase the distribution of helpful information we provide in our markets,” Hayes says. “This enables a faster ramp up when the business becomes more comfortable with investing in growth again.\u201d  No cookies? No problem.(Unless your marketing platform is rooted in The Old Times.Then you’re in trouble.)Attract, convert, retain: It starts HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2022","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"23","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/11\/\/23\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Defending your marketing budget in 2023","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/11\/23\/defending-your-marketing-budget\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]