How to make sure budget cuts don’t result in a drop in your digital marketing performance

This year has been tough on us all unless you are Jeff Bezos, a PPE manufacturer or a hermit, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

2020 has been ‘challenging’ to say the least and 2021 is looking like another tough year with further uncertainty surrounding Covid-19. And with rising unemployment and the very real prospect of a no-deal Brexit looming, the market is going to keep changing and become even more competitive. Looking closer to home, a recent LinkedIn poll found just 11% of chief marketing officers thought they might have more money to spend across marketing in 2021, whereas 56% said they expected to see a drop in their marketing budgets and 33% hoped there would be no change at all.

We know redundancies have happened across some of the biggest (and smallest) brands. Businesses have had to adapt and find new ways to drive sales while working with a skeleton and remote workforce. Yet results are still expected, so how do you make more sales/revenue with less budget/resource. The obvious answer is efficiency – but that’s easier said than done.

Being able to take a step back, see the bigger picture and identify what ’great’ looks like has become increasingly difficult as we are now busier than ever. Those ‘strategic away days’ we all used to enjoy simply aren’t happening any more, while conferences, trade shows and networking have all stopped and those water-cooler moments that drove businesses forward have disappeared. Decisions around knowing which technology is best to invest in, how to get the most out of your current technology stack and how to get one technology to speak to another are all a lot more difficult. The old ‘this is the way we have always done things’ probably rings truer than ever while upskilling and training staff is increasingly more difficult. So, where do you start?

Knowing what great looks like

Canton is lucky to have the effective expertise of over a century of online marketing. From my own 20 years with a data and tech focus across all online channels, my co-founder, the delivery experts and advisors we are a tight team that knows what great looks like and how to get there. 

Many (most) advertisers are still on the journey to a great set-up. From our experience across dozens of clients, the vast majority could save between 15% and 25% of their digital marketing budgets with no loss in performance either short or long term (we are not simply moving spend down to the bottom of the funnel). 

Savings are typically made in some of the following areas. Boring basics alongside industry knowhow and advanced techniques combine to drive down cost of sale. All of these and more are vital to make savings and drive growth. 

• Improving the setup in platforms to improve control and optimisation. 
• Radically improving tracking and incrementality measurement so you can see what performs and where the wastage is. 
• Realigning platform algorithms to benefit you and not push more money to the platform. 
• Integrating technology like buying platforms, product feeds and measurement tools for optimal performance. 
• Ensuring creative and landing pages are fit to drive business outcomes. 
• Setting up your earned delivery from search engine optimisation and natural social listing. 

The benefit of a friendly goals-focused marketing audit

Being able to talk about making savings and powering growth is the easy part. Many advertisers hear all the time that a new technology or agency will transform their fortunes. They are left disappointed by the outcome. That’s where Canton is different as we want to act as the coach, identify the corrective measures required and give you a detailed plan of action to make the savings. We can easily demonstrate the ROI of our involvement and are happy to work commercially on the value we bring. 

Our team of experts will look into your marketing platforms, connect our automated technology (speeding up the process), speak with your teams and use a combination of our bespoke technology and century of experience to produce the plan. As we are there to help, not criticise, we are sensitive to the team who we know are a vital part of the future and vital to your ongoing success. Then, if you wish, we can help you put the plan into action. The results, as many will attest, speak for themselves. 

Cut your digital marketing spend by up to a quarter – with no loss in performance

Next steps: if you’d like to know more about a Canton Audit and how to get the best out of your 2021 budgets, potentially by re-investing the money saved into growth, then please get in touch.

Neil Robinson, business development consultant, Canton Marketing Solutions.