July 20, 2023

80% of CMOs Plan to Increase or Maintain SEO investments Despite Shrinking Marketing Budgets

Budgets directed to marketing are flatter in 2023.

Four in five chief marketing officers are either maintaining or increasing investments in search engine optimization for continued or improved results in their companies, despite the overall reductions in marketing budgets.

Chief marketing officers strive to get more out of their investments amidst persistent pressure to reduce marketing spending to provide a better ROI.

80% of CMOs Plan to Increase or Maintain SEO investments Despite Shrinking Marketing Budgets: eAskme
80% of CMOs Plan to Increase or Maintain SEO investments Despite Shrinking Marketing Budgets: eAskme

Hiring freezes, layoffs, and financial struggles in the face of an upcoming recession is the topic of the moment, and regardless of the growing rate of some companies, chief marketing officers are becoming more conservative, willing to pay less on their marketing campaigns but gain more than usually.

These days, marketing is the area that sees budget reductions.

Analyzing past performances and outcomes after marketing investment slashes during past recessions demonstrates that there was usually a short-term gain.

Still, the move proved unprofitable long-term, negatively affecting the brand.

For this reason and to protect the stability of the brand at the moment and in the future, businesses reshape their marketing budget to see where they can cut and redirect the money towards strategies that are among the most effective in securing improved positions and visibility online, attracting prospective clients and expanding their customer base.

Even if companies want to make more significant advertising investments, organic traffic is still preferred over paid traffic.

This is why the link building strategy remains a top priority for a future-oriented company seeking to improve its website’s SERP rankings.

Google, the leading browser, remains highly reliant on the quality of the links before ranking web pages.

71% of CMOs fear unsuccessful marketing strategies due to narrowing budgets:

Every head of an office wants to see astonishing results without overspending.

However, these days, chief marketing officers are more stressed than ever to obtain excellent results at a fraction of the cost, with 75% of them claiming they’re feeling pressure to secure the company’s ROI and gain good results without consuming the same amount of money that would be needed.

Regardless, 86% CMOs believe that effective and profitable transformations come from within the company and are accompanied by sustainable development.

Narrowed budgets, rising expenditures, and decreased productivity are tightening their spending power, according to the chief of research at Gartner.

SEO secures a leading role in marketing for the better part of CMOs:

According to the most recent survey among marketing leaders conducted by global insight provider Gartner, search engine optimization is where 80% of chief marketing officers are directing funds.

34% of chief marketing officers allocate around the same budget to search engine optimization, whether they work with an SEO agency or resort to in-house SEO.

For the better part, it’s more convenient, practical, and budget-conscious to use SEO services, as reaching out to a specialized agency removes their need to invest in the proper technology, train employees the essential skills, or keep up-to-date with ever-changing trends.

In many regards, in-house SEO can turn costlier and less efficient.

The remaining 46% of chief marketing officers are investing more money in search engine optimization campaigns and strategies than they have done.

Consequently, the remaining 20% will redirect investments from SEO to other areas, like social or digital video advertising, or decrease the SEO-oriented budget to a certain level.

Search advertising is gaining a more significant share of the pie:

Chief marketing officers are allocating more budget to search advertising, particularly social and digital video advertising.

53% of C-level corporate executives dealing with a marketing plan to expand their investment in the former category, shifting focus towards Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook campaigns to reach more consumers and increase their ROI.

The growing digital advertising market provides good evidence, with countries like Netherlands and Spain leading the ranks.

More and more companies use digital marketing in the Netherlands, which is why it is projected to be worth USD 4.91 billion by the end of the year.

Digital marketing encompasses a wide array of sectors. Still, the better part of the efforts is inclined towards digital and social ads since social media makes a significant part of the average’s daily screen time.

Influencer marketing is rising in popularity:

Marketing strategies that use entities with a large following on social media to boost the brand’s exposure are gaining ground worldwide, as the recent statistics show, with more CMOs relying on the popularity of influencers to make their products or known visible and promote them.

This comes as no surprise, as such strategies hold the key to an essential factor that boosts the appeal of a brand and makes consumers stick with it, namely trust.

Businesses seek to build this feeling within their consumers and make them spread the word about their offerings.

This is where influencers step on the stage to help companies close gaps in their marketing strategies.

However, as the world becomes increasingly aware of the power of influencer marketing, they’re also becoming more reticent regarding whom to trust.

For this reason, trends in influencer marketing are ever-changing, calling for ongoing efforts to keep up with them to secure better positions among competitors.

Growing organic traffic with SEO agencies remains a top priority:

The advantages of organic traffic are indisputable. It’s the more sustainable way to establish a brand’s presence, as valuable content is at the core of the marketing strategy.

Companies have always relied on the many ways that search engine optimization campaigns can take, as, at its core, it has always revolved around bringing value through different types of content.

Google has long been sophisticating its algorithms to eliminate noise and compensate websites that achieved EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness).

This factor remains essential in positioning a website in the SERP’s rankings.

If you want to ensure the success of your business through SEO, checking Seeders can be a good starting point.

It takes learning from specialists in the domain to see your marketing efforts come to fruition and remove any arising obstacles, as the topic can be pretty complex and raise several questions.

If you still have any question, do share via comments.

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