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Almost half of companies plan to expand their marketing teams this year
Despite continued economic uncertainty, more than two in five companies (41%) plan to expand their internal marketing teams in 2024.
Digital marketing agency Impression surveyed 1,000 marketing professionals and found that nearly three-quarters (73%) expect their business to grow this year.
Although expectations for growth are strong, it does not necessarily mean that marketing budgets will increase accordingly. Less than half of respondents (47%) said they expected their marketing budgets to increase in 2024.
Brands are also redirecting their efforts and budgets to bottom-of-funnel activities. Almost 3 in 10 (28%) of marketers surveyed said their companies are focused on converting and driving sales and leads, whereas their organizations are focused on driving brand awareness. and 26% said they focused on improving their attractiveness.
About 20% say customer retention and loyalty is their top focus, and a similar proportion (21%) say their business efforts are evenly split between brand building, bottom-of-funnel activities, and customer retention. I answered yes.
Source: Impression
Consistency between outdoor and TV advertising improves effectiveness scores
Research from System1 and JCDecaux UK suggests brands should aim to create consistency between out-of-home (OOH) and TV advertising.
According to System1’s Test Your Ad platform, which studies emotional responses to ads, the study found that comparable home ads perform twice as well in terms of brand fluency as TV ads. .
Out-of-home ads that are not tied to TV creative score an average of 62% on the 2-second brand awareness test, which measures the strength and speed of brand awareness, compared to OOH that is not tied to TV creative. The ad has a score of 30%.
TV OOH ads also perform better on System1’s other metrics: star ratings, which predict an ad’s long-term brand-building potential, and spike metrics, which predict an ad’s ability to drive short-term sales. showed good performance.
Out-of-home ads that matched the TV version achieved an average star rating of 3.1 and a spike rating of 1.10, while assets without a consistent creative thread had a 2.8 star rating and a spike rating of 0.90.
Source: System1 and JCDecaux UK
Store price inflation remained stable in December.
The rate of increase in store prices was stable in December. In-store prices rose by an average of 4.3% last month compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NIQ.
This number is consistent with November, when in-store price growth was also 4.3%. This is below the three-month average of 4.6%.
Although store price inflation remained stable overall in December, food price inflation slowed to 6.7% in December from 7.7% in November. This marks the eighth consecutive month of slowing in store food price inflation. The Store Price Index measures changes in the prices of his 500 most commonly purchased items.
Food price inflation is at its lowest level since June 2022.
Promotional activity in the food retail industry reached its highest level in four years at the end of 2023, suggesting retailers are looking to appeal to price-sensitive consumers.
“NIQ research shows that low prices, quality and accessibility are the biggest factors when shoppers plan where to open their main grocery store this Christmas. , further reductions in in-store prices will help shoppers celebrate the Christmas season,” says Mike Watkins. Head of Retailer and Business Insights at NIQ. “But there was significant pressure on discretionary spending, and price cuts started deeper and earlier.”
Source: British Retail Consortium and NIQ
Shoppers are more willing to embrace AI in retail if it’s transparent
More than three in five shoppers (61%) are happy for retailers to use AI, as long as they are transparent about their use.
In fact, more than two in five UK shoppers (42%) are already aware that their retailer is using AI in the purchasing process. Many consumers (45%) also report using generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their daily lives.
The area where shoppers see AI most useful in the retail experience is promotions. More than a quarter (28%) of shoppers say AI-powered pricing and promotions improve their retail experience.
14% of UK consumers say AI-powered chatbots can add value to their shopping journey, while a quarter (25%) say AI chatbots are the most important part of their shopping experience. It states that it is a disruptive AI application.
Source: Interiors
Almost three-quarters of companies struggle to maintain innovative marketing strategies
Three-quarters (75%) of companies report that they struggle to maintain innovative marketing strategies, tactics, and technology.
The biggest hurdle marketers are grappling with is how to access, organize, and use customer data. This also contributes to understanding and defining the target audience, which came in second place.
The survey found that 59% of businesses cut their budgets last year. Looking specifically at digital marketing budgets, we found that search marketing (34%) and content marketing (31%) are the biggest areas where companies are cutting back on budgets.
Two-thirds (67%) of businesses say the cost of living crisis is impacting the way they market.
Source: LOCALiQ
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