Plan Now – Profit Later. Rest Now – Regret Later. We are remaining positive at Appointments and can see that several of our clients have chosen to plan now and profit later. Planning, preparing and promoting are all part of the marketing cycle and as we all know create results, but as many people want to know, is your marketing future doomed?

But there is also a thought that marketing and advertising budgets are often the first to be slashed during a difficult period, there is more and more evidence that actually continuing to invest in marketing and technology is the best long term strategy and these were lessons learnt back in 2008 from the last big economic crash.

In the content marketing arena specifically, an early snapshot of the effect of Covid-19 reported that content marketing was one of the least impacted among agency services (and even saw a slight positive impact). 122 agencies were surveyed by Orbit Media Studios and the Agency Management Institute on the 26th of March and it will be repeated in the coming months.

“Marketers told to hold their nerve” 

The IPA Bellwether report is always a rich source of insight on future trends and the most recent one published, again has some positive results.

Marketing Week reported that the Bellwether data from Q4 of 2020 (which was compiled between 2nd and 27th March) showed a net balance of -6.1% of companies revising their total marketing budgets lower. However, those respondents were much more positive about their 2020/21 financial year budget plans, expecting a sharp rise in total marketing budgets over the coming year.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, events marketing budgets are also predicted to see growth (net balance of 6.3%) with many businesses seeing a need to invest once lockdown measures have been lifted. Modest upward revisions to direct marketing budgets are forecast (net balance of 3.7%) and the outlook for public relations was narrowly positive (net balance of 0.6%).

So what does that mean for you?

• If you are a job hunter, remain positive, ensure that your CV is up to date and compelling for when you see a role you are interested in. Update those marketing skills, we are seeing a huge rise in a need for digital experience.
• The same goes for those who are furloughed, use this time to update your skills, ask your employer if they have any training courses they can assign to you.
• And if you are in employment, ensure you are communicating with your leader and your team, positivity is key.

Over the past few weeks we have seen an increase in marketing roles but I have to emphasise that our clients are being very specific in what they are looking for and are raising the bar for potential candidates to succeed.

Stay safe and if you want to talk to one of our consultants about marketing opportunities please email me emma@appointmentspersonnel.co.uk or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Why not take a look at our blog on The Skills Toolkit.