Page 16 - AeM_Nov_2017

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Growth in marketing budgets stalled in 2017,

still increased investment in digital advertising

can be expected, Gartner reveals

Growth in marketing budgets has stalled after continued proving it can deal with financial constraints, assume
increases over recent years, according to a survey by accountability for business performance, build budgets
Gartner, Inc. that states marketing budgets hit a plateau based on future returns rather than past assumptions,
in 2017 after three years of growth, with budgets falling and grow the business while making hard choices."
from 12.1% of company revenue in 2016 to 11.3% in
2017, representing a return to 2015 levels. Hence, 2017 has been a year of significant macroenvironmen-
CMOs have modest expectations in 2018. Only 15% say tal upheaval, in terms of both global politics and natural
they expect a significant increase in budget; 52% expect disasters — North Korea, Brexit and hurricanes Har-
a slight increase, and one-third even expect their budg- vey, Irma and Maria, for example. Marketing is not im-
ets to be cut or frozen. mune to the business impact that stems from such inci-
dents. There is also evidence that CMOs may have
"While the descent is not yet steep, it still poses difficult become distracted — either by a heavy focus on opera-
questions for chief marketing officers," said Ewan McIn- tional and tactical measures of performance, or by
tyre, research director at Gartner. "Previous budget in- large, cross-functional initiatives such as customer ex-
creases have come with weighty expectations, some of perience (CX) programs that have yet to provide hard
which have yet to be met. The time has come for mar- economic benefits.
keting to show its financial management credentials,
16 November 2017 - Email Marketing & Lead Management