Happy Labor Day weekend
Shiny new things, marketing budgets and counting down to MarTech.
Good morning, Marketers, we hope you weathered the storms.
I hardly need to go into detail about recent bad weather events, but wherever you are we hope you’re safe any dry — especially as we head into Labor Day weekend, the last holiday of summer.
Has this summer gone by especially fast, or do I think that every year? Actually, I think my sense of time has changed; and I’m sure it’s not just me. Fewer outdoor leisure activities, fewer meetings with friends, very little travel and — in my case — working from home. I think travel in particular, whether it be for a vacation, a conference or just the daily commute, seemed to slow things down.
Now the days fly by — but I guess we’re all getting work done. Holiday season is just around the corner.
Kim Davis
Editorial Director
Email marketers don’t have time for shiny new things
In his latest contribution to MarTech, email marketing thought leader Ryan Phelan warns about how easy it is to be distracted by shiny objects — and he doesn’t just mean new technologies; he includes shiny new mindsets too. The antidote to the “perennial ‘bright-and-shiny’ disease” is to remain laser-focused on the outcomes you aim to achieve.
For example, BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) causes your brand logo to appear alongside your email in the recipient’s inbox. Nifty to have, but it’s only worth going through the authentication process if that logo is going to drive tangible outcomes.
Ryan poses three questions to help you check your own interest in the latest novelty:
- Do I have a clear and defined KPI?
- Is it worth the expense?
- Does it scale?
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Marketing budgets slashed in 2021: Gartner
In its report, “The State of Marketing Budgets 2021,” analyst firm Gartner finds marketing budgets as a percentage of revenue falling to “their lowest level in recent history.” Budgets were almost cut in half, falling from 11% in 2020 to 6.4% in 2021. More predictably, CMOs reported shifting offline spend to digital channels, pure-play digital accounting for over 72% of the total budget.
One year ago, based on its “CMO Spend Survey 2020-2021,” Gartner predicted that marketing technology would see increased spend even as other functions were cut back. In fact marketing technology held steady as a percentage of overall budget (an increase of 0.4% hardly indicates strong growth). Surprisingly, analytics found itself in fourth place in budget allocation across marketing programs and operations. 400 respondents in North America and Europe were surveyed.
Why we care. CMOs are having to square the circle this year. With exceptional downward pressure on their overall budget, they still have to spend adequately on the digital channels which have become all-important and the marketing technology that powers them.
That has meant re-allocation of dwindling resources: bad news for external agencies and publishers offering offline ad inventory.
Of course, CMOs showing they can do more with less are making CFOs happy. They’re prepared to cut marketing as well as travel and real estate.
MarTech is just 11 days away
In addition to stellar brand speakers, we have some high-profile analysts and consultants taking the virtual MarTech stage. Chris Penn will be talking about predictive analytics; Pam Didner tackles marketing/sales alignment; Mark Davey lays out the DAM playbook; and Frans Riemersma will be describing an actionable CX framework.
It’s all yours. And it’s all free. Secure your pass now.
Don’t miss this opportunity to join thousands of senior-level marketers to learn how to make data-driven decisions that power organizational success.
Psst… Hungry for more? Expand your training with a live, deep-dive workshop on agile marketing, buying technology, customer experiences, CDPs, and attribution analysis — just $ 149 each. (Buy more than one to unlock 15% off registration!)
Quote of the day
“Burnout is real. Take time off. You have to rest your mind.” Manny Medina, CEO, Outreach
The post Happy Labor Day weekend: Friday’s Daily Brief appeared first on MarTech.
About The Author
Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space. He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020. Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.
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