Most marketers successfully achieved KPIs despite budget and headcount reductions, reveals survey
A new study exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted CMOs and marketing budgets in 2020 was released today by 10Fold. The economic impact of the pandemic led businesses to cut budgets across the board and reduce headcount. The 2020 CMO Report reveals how B2B technology marketing leaders adapted to these challenges.
The survey that polled 150 marketing leaders found that marketing executives prioritized budget spending primarily on virtual events and webinars, followed by digital advertising and content programs. If budgets were cut, most executives slashed conferences, digital ads, public relations, and paid social media.
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Perhaps most surprising is that 82% of marketing executives measured by KPIs expect to achieve either the original or revised KPIs, but only 47% of that group expects to receive a bonus. Nearly all respondents say that the pandemic has forever changed how they will allocate their budgets in the future.
Over 61% of the respondents also stated that their marketing budgets were cut due to the pandemic. Here is a quick look at key budget change trends across the nation:
- Respondents in the Southern region of the United States were most likely (78%) to be hit with budget cuts
- The lowest number of budget cuts was reported on the West Coast (58%)
- Looking at budgets across technology domains, more than half (57%) of the Enterprise Software group reported cuts, followed by the Security segment (41%)
- 71% of companies reporting revenue of $26-100 million slashed budgets
- Less than 10% of marketers surveyed reported budget increases
The majority (91%) of marketing executives reported measuring KPIs, and 60% of those executives confirmed their KPIs remained the same, despite the pandemic. Only 26% of respondents measuring KPIs reported lower KPIs during 2020. Most surprising, 10% of the respondents reported higher KPIs using the same or an even lower budget.
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The study also revealed that despite the business challenges of COVID-19 and budget cuts, 82% of marketing executives measuring KPIs are achieving the original or revised KPIs. Of those achieving KPIs, 56% were meeting revised KPIs, and 44% were meeting original KPIs. When asked to predict if they would achieve KPIs at the end of 2020, one-quarter of respondents were not sure, while 5% said they would not achieve KPIs, and 70% were confident they would achieve their KPIs.
When asked about the strategies these marketing executives used to cope with the pandemic, nearly all reported redirecting budget designated for conferences and regional tradeshows toward virtual events and webinars. The second choice for increased spending was digital advertising, closely followed by increases in spending on content. This strategy persisted across all the groups measured.
Overall, the study found that respondents were more likely to decrease spending on conferences, digital ad spend, public relations, and paid social. The groups large enough to measure include private companies, companies on the West Coast, and companies reporting $1-25 million in revenue and all aligned on these decreases.
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Rebooting Marketing To Capture Value in 2021
Clearly, necessity was the inspiration for marketing innovation in 2020. The real challenges of delivering high-value marketing initiatives in a locked-down world will inspire new methodologies, processes, and solutions for years to come.
This year, where every dollar counts, marketing leaders are scrambling to align their spend with corporate objectives — and for most companies, that means supporting sales. What is interesting about the program strategies these executives expect to employ is that clearly, there is no “one size fits all†for B2B marketing. For example, digital advertising programs were both a target for increases and decreases in budget spend. This confusion may be attributed to the fact that there are many options and strategies for implementing digital advertising programs, and it is easy to make costly mistakes. Likewise, public relations programs suffered devastating losses, which sends a significant message to PR professionals and agencies about tying communications results back to corporate outcomes.
Marketing leaders were forced to push the “reboot†button in 2020. Through that process, the most successful marketing professionals are gaining a greater understanding of the value of all of their programs. They are poised to design a marketing system that has far greater impact and efficiencies.