Marketers more optimistic even as budgets fall
Marketer optimism is way up from this spring, even though ad spend and marketing budgets are down.
Marketers are feeling much more optimistic this quarter, according to the CMO Survey from Deloitte. Nearly half (49%) reported feeling “more optimistic” about the U.S. economy, up from 30.1% in the spring survey.
The Marketer Optimism Score, which measures marketer sentiment on a scale of 0 to 100, went from 58.3 in the spring to 66.5 currently. By sector, B2C Services companies report the highest rate of optimism, with 72% reporting feeling more optimistic. It was followed by B2B product marketers at 67.1%, B2B services at 66% and B2C products at 64.5%.
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Methodology. The survey had 316 responses from marketing leaders at for-profit U.S. companies, 95.6% of respondents were VP-level or above.
Marketing spend. Overall, inflationary pressures are still leading to a decrease in marketing spend levels, with 45% of companies reporting this loss. However, these pressures have weakened from the first half of 2023, when 52% reported this decrease. Also, the number of companies reporting “no impact” has risen from 31% to 38% over the same time period.
By sector, B2B product companies were most likely to report that inflationary pressures are impacting their marketing spend levels (53.2%), followed by B2C product companies (35.6%), B2C services companies (39.4%), and B2B services companies (42.9%).
Marketing budget. Marketing budgets have dropped near to pre-Covid levels, with marketing expenses accounting for 10.6% of company budgets and 9.2% of sales revenues currently, down from 12.3% and 10.9%, respectively, in the spring. B2C product companies have the highest percentage of their budgets (18.3%) and sales revenues (13.2%) allocated to marketing, followed by B2B product companies (9.7% and 7.9%, respectively), B2C services companies (10.6% and 10.4%, respectively), and B2B services companies (7.2% and 7.4%, respectively).
Why we care. It’s good to see marketer optimism on the rise despite inflationary pressures. However, these pressures are still leading to a decrease in marketing spend levels, with marketing budgets dropping near to pre-Covid levels. Are marketers’ new attitude a reflection of a new normal?
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