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Coronavirus Marketing Technology

Marketers split over how coronavirus outbreak will impact their budgets

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By John Glenday, Reporter

March 23, 2020 | 3 min read

A marked split has emerged within the marketing community over how the coronavirus outbreak will impact budgets, with 48% anticipating a reduction in spending, while a more confident 46% expect no change.

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Marketers split over how coronavirus outbreak will impact their budgets

The dividing line is detailed in a Wyzowl survey of marketing professionals and points to a confused and challenging period ahead as business adjusts to the new normal.

Quizzing 160 predominantly US-based marketing professionals the survey found the crisis was materially affecting 69% of marketers who have had to adjust working practices, with nine out of ten still working – over half of whom are now at home.

At opposing ends of the response spectrum, a tenth of marketers say they’ve shut up shop entirely but for a third of marketers it’s a case of business as usual.

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. This is reflected in the fact that while 41% of marketers have adjusted plans as a result of disruption and delays, 59% are carrying on regardless.

Inevitably the virus is being felt most keenly on physical events and print, with 75% and 45% reducing spend respectively, with 44% also reducing content spend. On the flip side video (31%), paid ads (31%) and broadcast (28%) are all expected to ride the crest of a new digital boom.

An accelerating shift toward utility, e-commerce and live streaming has already been observed and comes against a backdrop of surging exports, which hit £7.9bn in 2018, although more recently global ad growth had begun to fall.

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