Myths vs Marketing Truths: Setting the record straight

With the UK on the verge of recession, and marketing budgets hanging by a shoestring, it seems the question on everyone’s mind is… how can we create a bigger impact with an increasingly smaller wallet?

As we start the new year filled with financial uncertainty, marked by brands tightening their marketing budgets like never before, we wanted to share (and bust) some common marketing myths – namely those surrounding the effect of budgets on driving strong, qualitative results.

MYTH – You can only drive big brand impact with TV

Let’s talk about social media. A recent study from Kantar  shows that social is catching up to TV when it comes to driving long-term brand equity, growing by +2.6% over the last five years, while TV has declined by 4.9%. The new digital era is upon us and it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

New research from Nielsen also shows that social and online video can drive brand and sales ROI in equal measures with TV; news that suggests, if tightened marketing budgets make TV advertising impossible, using social in the right way can help drive the same levels of brand impact faster, and more efficiently.

MYTH – Bottom-of-the-funnel results are only driven by prospecting and conversion campaigns on social

Although you can drive sufficient results with prospecting and conversion campaigns, these often only reach the small pool of people who are already in the market for your product – which believe it or not, can lead to diminishing returns.

Adding a reach campaign can drive incremental growth and often lead to more sales – so much so, that research shows you can not only get +100% greater reach for reach and performance campaigns vs performance alone, but also +18% greater incremental sales with the same comparison.

MYTH – Reducing the marketing budgets is one of the best ways to protect a business during a recession

During periods of economic downturn, advertisers who pull back on their advertising – prioritising short-term savings over long-term value – make it easier for other marketers to maintain or even increase their share of voice (a measure of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors) over the same time period.

A study led by the Harvard Business Review found that 9% of global businesses came out of the global financial crisis of 2008 in better financial shape than they went into it. It seems that their success was predicated on a careful balance of selective cost reduction to enhance operational efficiency, matched with comprehensive investment in the future with spend on marketing, R&D and new assets.

So, what’s the lesson to be learnt here?

Maximising our marketing budget will be more important than ever in 2023 – but this shouldn’t compromise the quality of content OR quantity of budget if you want to ensure impactful results for your brand.

Efficient marketing planning and smart investments in the future is how we will continue to thrive in this new and exciting digital era.

Get in touch via hello@eightandfour.com to find out how social can be baked into your marketing mix and help you achieve your objectives.