The question on every marketer’s mind now is what is the right ad strategy to have for the upcoming year? In view of the escalation of Covid-19 – marketers must take an even closer look at their marketing ad spend plans and perhaps even alter their approach.
But how? On what channels? For what reasons?
There’s no one, correct answer. Different companies and industries have different opinions on the matter.
In fact, a marked split has emerged within the marketing community over how coronavirus will impact budgets – 48% are anticipating a reduction in spending, while a more optimistic and confident 46% expect no change.
Some industries have been forced to pause advertising amid the COVID-19 outbreak entirely, risking huge loss of brand equity.
According to Havas Media, one of the worst things any brand can do right now is to “go dark.”
“The uncertainty among citizens and consumers will put pressure on businesses across the US and around the globe,” Jason Kanefsky, chief investment officer at Havas Media stated. “A larger portion of advertising investment will need to be focused on building and maintaining a meaningful relationship with consumers rather than driving near term sales.”
So, is now a great time to really invest in your relationship marketing efforts?
Experts have stressed that marketers should be using this time wisely, although it’s extremely challenging.
Another report from analytics firm, MediaRadar, said that Covid-19 is actually causing eCommerce sites to boost their ad spend since the pandemic is driving a significant shift in U.S. shopping habits.
Ad spend from eCommerce sites doubled from $4.8 million for a trailing four-week period starting on February 17th to $9.6 million for the week of March 9th.
Ad Spend Forecast
Amid the chaos, one in twenty marketers claim to be profiting from the disruption by taking advantage of new avenues of investment opened up by alternate marketing channels. While 41% of marketers have adjusted plans, 59% are still carrying on with the same approach.
Research firm, eMarketer, said that worldwide ad spending is expected to grow compared to last year. However, it has lowered its growth projections by almost 3%.
Worldwide media ad spend will increase by 7.0% to $691.7 Billion in 2020 over the prior year. This is down from the earlier growth estimate of 7.4% to $712.02 billion.
Quick Tip
There are some ways to achieve better conversion rates without spending extra on your ads.
eCommerce retailers may be unaware of a growing threat to their business: the presence of invasive product and promotional ads appearing on their web sites that potentially distract shoppers. The worst-case scenario is having your prospect directed to your competitor’s site, resulting in missed revenue opportunities.
“When looking deeper into the infected visitors, we found out that they actually spend more time on the web site and are more engaged than the average visitor,” said Jay Nigrelli, VP of eCommerce at Samsonite. “Active online shoppers are more e-Commerce savvy and are likely to download web services and extensions embedded within injected ads. When ad injections were removed from their experience, we saw these shoppers convert at more than 2.5X the rate of site visitors not impacted by these disruptions.”