计划和分配营销预算曾经是一个相对简单的过程. At the start of each annual or quarterly cycle, 支出决策是根据公司最重要的业务目标做出的, 无论这是为了创造更多收益还是增加用户获取.
And once the budget was signed off by the powers that be, 市场营销团队将对最好的技术进行投资, tools or partners to help them achieve these goals.
But 2020 has been anything but a straightforward year. 正如COVID-19大流行改变了消费者的行为方式一样, 它还重塑了营销预算的分配和支出方式.
In the first blog of our series ‘The State of Marketing UK Budgets’, 我们深入研究了我们的200名B2C营销人员在一年的节俭营销中所经历的预算高低, 以及他们为缓解2021年意想不到的挑战而采取的早期措施.
Early 2020: Maintaining the marketing budget status quo
According to our marketers, 它们2020年初的预算拨款基本与前几年持平.
雇员少于100人的小型企业平均每年的预算为50亿美元 £45,984 - £603,996，而在大型企业(500多名员工)中，他们的收入为 £603,996 - £2,865,605.
Although over half of the businesses (56%) we surveyed set their budgets annually, 29% of this group feel that is too long.
On the flip side the 9% 谁的预算以月为周期，谁的预算时间表最快乐 79% of those stating they are happy with the monthly agility.
No doubt that this monthly, 灵活的设置使他们成为第一批在3月份大流行开始扰乱活动时迅速改变营销策略的人.
Secondary to Advertising, Events enjoyed the largest slice of marketing spend, harking back to the early days of 2020, when conferences, 贸易展览等仍然是创造和建立品牌知名度的机会.
Interestingly, 看来，公司对公关的重视程度和对营销技术的重视程度是一样的, with both activities receiving 14% of this year’s budget allocation.
对科技的投资是一个令人鼓舞的数据，因为它表明，一些营销人员有远见，在疫情迫使他们投资于更注重数字的营销之前就进行了投资.
The COVID effect on marketing budgets
我们的研究反映了国际出版商协会(IPA)等行业机构今年早些时候发现的情况——在新冠疫情爆发后，营销预算迅速削减. In fact, only 26% 我们的营销人员设法避免了由于疫情而削减的预算.
Events are the biggest casualties with a 16% cut, 这意味着它们已经跌出了2020年投资最多的营销活动的前三名.
There are many reasons for this, but the most obvious is that despite some notable exceptions, 远程活动还不能像现实生活中的活动那样重现同样的氛围，也不能带来同样数量的潜在客户，因此不值得投资.
But Marketing Tech, after matching the 14% PR investment at the start of the year, seems to be proving its value to our marketers, receiving the lowest budget cut of 9%.
Again, 令人鼓舞的是，受访者意识到需要限制数字技术支出以获取数据, and the smart use of it, the basis of future digital marketing activities.
2021: The Age of The Thrifty Digital Marketer?
In spite of the pandemic cuts, 我们的营销人员似乎并没有强烈的欲望去重新发明营销的轮子. Advertising still leads the pack, with a conservative 1% increase to 36% allocation.
However, 事件营销的损失将成为营销技术的收益，因为营销人员计划分配平均成本 15% of their budget to it. 这意味着它也将取代传统的公关，成为明年营销人员最青睐的策略.
So what has made marketing tech so appealing post pandemic? In simple terms, advertising costs money. A TV, 广播或在线创意活动可能会带来新客户, 但这必须大规模启动才能真正产生影响或实现这些新的前景.
这是一种代价高昂的方法，在大多数企业都在努力留住现有客户的时候，这种方法可能不会带来回报.
这就是为什么新一代节俭的数字营销人员似乎迷恋于由营销技术支持的数据导向营销——这是留住和获得客户的最具成本效益的方式之一.
From customer behaviour insight gathering, profitable customer profile creation to lookalike targeting, marketing tech enables you to implement the most effective, data-informed customer retention strategies, 通常只花费全面广告活动成本的一小部分.
Thrifty marketers also know that in times of uncertainty, current customers are your most prized asset.
这就是为什么您首先需要投资于正确的技术来理解它们, 然后利用你的洞察力来制定有效的策略，帮助你保持他们的客户和忠诚度.
Conclusion
As UK marketers race to complete their 2021 planning, many may have similar goals to last year, but with significantly less budget available to achieve them.
随着不同部门竞相展示自己在企业中的价值，市场营销支出也将受到更严格的审查.
关键是在2021年的营销预算计划中纳入数字元素，这将使您能够适应仍在变化的环境——疫苗给我们带来了业务复苏的希望.
要了解我们的200名营销人员计划如何做到这一点，请关注我们的独家报道 The State of Marketing UK Budgets infographic series, to receive deeper insights from our research.
