With many organizations facing budget cuts, marketers are focusing on social media to connect with consumers. Unfortunately, they prefer email.
Two-thirds of marketers are facing reduced budgets in the second half of the year, according to new research from email management software company Exclaimer. Also, many marketers are out of sync with how customers want to hear from them — focusing on social media instead of email.
Budgets. Most marketing budgets as they stand prioritize email — a good start. Seventy-eight percent of marketers surveyed say email is given priority in their budget, followed by social media (66%) and SEO/content marketing (56%).
Unfortunately, 68% of marketers said their organizations have experienced a reduction in their budgets by 5% to 10%, or more, in the second half of 2023.
Crossed channels. Two-thirds of marketers are most interested in exploring organic social media, followed by influencer marketing (74%) and email signatures (59%), according to the study, which interviewed over 100 senior and mid-level marketers and 1,000 U.S. consumers with the help of research firm Censuswide.
Most consumers (52%), on the other hand, prefer to hear from brands via email. Texts were in second place, with 15%.
Why we care. With shrinking budgets, marketers are looking to improve ROI by exploring channels they might not have fully mastered yet. This explains why top interest is in social media and influencers, while email remains the budget priority for most.
Recently, email expert and MarTech contributor Kath Pay weighed in on the staying power of email as a marketing channel. In her experience, email has proven to be a preferred channel for consumers of a certain age. And younger consumers adopt email when they reach that age — usually, once they begin their professional careers.
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MarTechAbout the author
Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.
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