The COVID-19 era was notoriously a rollercoaster for marketers, who needed to pivot their strategies continually because the world modified.
As if one unprecedented event wasn’t enough, marketers are actually faced with a looming recession that’s already having major impacts on their industry.
Will the recession shake things up as much as COVID-19 did?
While we will not truly predict the long run, one-third of marketers think a recession could have a fair greater impact on their marketing activities than the pandemic, while one other 33% say it would be in regards to the same.
While it’s best to still take the information above with a grain of salt because it is just one among many studies and the economy is at all times quickly evolving, listed below are three things it’s worthwhile to know to organize for regardless of the coming months bring:
1. Most Marketer Say the Recession Is Here
While the world debates whether the recession is looming or arrived months ago, 78% of marketers say we’re already living in it.
Marketers are already seeing budget cuts, hiring freezes, and other unpleasant effects. At the identical time, their plans and goals for 2023 are continually being adjusted because the economic situation progresses.
For a deeper dive into the macroeconomic reasons marketers are being hit so hard, take a look at our blog post on how the recession is already impacting marketers.
2. 67% of marketers expect an economic slowdown for greater than six months:
Not only is it already here, but our survey shows that marketers aren’t expecting the recession to finish anytime soon. As one marketer put it:
“Between COVID-19 uncertainty, high prices attributable to inflation, supply chain and venue availability issues, persons are hesitant to plan large events for the subsequent 12 months. I expect that can proceed no less than for one more yr or until there may be some sense of stability available in the market.”
3. Some marketing channels are losing effectiveness, requiring more spend.
Being expected to make a huge effect with a small budget is nothing recent for marketers. But what happens when your usual marketing channels aren’t as effective as they was once?
In line with a marketer in our survey, “we’re needing to spend more to get similar results from 6 months ago.” Meanwhile, 37% of marketers have already seen budget cuts.
We asked industry leaders for essentially the most effective marketing strategies to chop costs of their marketing budgets. These made the highest of the list:
At #1, tapping into earned media is an important (and free) opportunity to expand your reach and cut your budget. Also tied for first is leveraging automation and AI.
Thirdly, finding recent or emerging marketing opportunities can be huge. For instance, embracing BeReal, a recent social media platform popular amongst Gen Z, is totally free. Being among the many first brands to hop on the trend presents an enormous opportunity.
For more insights on how marketing leaders are planning to navigate these times, see our full report here.
What’s Next?
We plan on surveying marketers throughout 2023 to maintain tabs on how the recession is impacting them as responsive as possible.
Whether the recession finally ends up milder than expected or continues to cause challenges, we’ll keep you posted and offer you the information it’s worthwhile to reach difficult times.
To learn more in regards to the overarching opportunities, challenges, and trends in marketing today, take a look at our free State of Marketing Report below.
