With this post, we begin a three-part primer on the marketing budget. This topic merits such detailed coverage. Today, we look at 2018 Marketing Budget Trends. Then, we cover our 2018 Marketing Budget Strategies. And we conclude with our 2018 Marketing Budget Free Templates.
This material builds on our earlier discussions. For example, see: Marketing Tips for Small Businesses, Creative Uses of Guerilla Marketing, Budgeting for Social Media Marketing, and How to Do Better Marketing Budgets.
Without a well-conceived marketing budget, it is hard to accomplish the following: Measure performance. Allocate resources where they are most needed. See how much a given strategy will costs. And lots more.
2018 Marketing Budget Trends
As we look forward for 2018, let us first look back at 2017. According to Marketing Charts, based on data from Econsultancy: “An Intelligence Briefing by Econsultancy in association with Adobe asked almost 3,500 marketers around the world how their spending on various digital marketing channels and disciplines would change in 2017.” The chart shows the expectations for digital marketing budgets.
In its 2017-2018 survey of 353 chief marketing officers, Gartner found that:
“Marketing budgets hit a plateau in 2017 after three years of growth. While the descent is not steep (yet), it still poses difficult questions for CMOs. Can they continue to fund broad commitments for customer experience and innovation while delivering core marketing programs? How can they ensure that the investment in people and resources delivers solid ROI today while preparing for capabilities needed tomorrow? How can investments in technology deliver value to the business and secure future commitments?”
“One thing is clear — previous budget increases have come with weighty expectations, some of which have yet to be met. Marketing must show its financial management credentials, proving it can deal with financial constraints. And it must have accountability for business performance. As well as build budgets based on future returns rather than past assumptions.”
Finally, here two excellent marketing budget charts for 2018 compiled by 60 Second Marketer.
