A survey sent to 900 CMO’s and 250 agencies shows how the digital marketing sector responds to changes as the impact of COVID-19 unfolds, covering 5 key areas.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, April 20, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A survey sent to 900 CMO’s and 250 agencies shows how the digital marketing sector responds to changes as the impact of COVID-19 unfolds, covering 5 critical areas.

Pay per click: In the tourism sector, uncertainty about time frames for normalization led to 90% of respondents saying they have cut PPC budgets or turned off campaigns altogether. In online retail and e-commerce, the majority of respondents are retaining their average spend. B2B is the only sector with a clear indication of increased spending on pay per click since conventional business development channels are hampered by lockdowns. Representatives of the online learning market were not sufficient to gather data that supports the rise in ad spend in this industry, although judging by the number of affiliate links posted by larger publishers, this is strongly suspected by researchers at Sitetrail.

Omnichannel communication: Across all industries, there is an uptick of companies who will deploy chatbots to aid with crisis communication. Chatbot leader SnatchBot confirmed that in the travel and banking sectors deployment of chatbots are largely up by around 20%. Avi Benezra, the CTO of SnatchBot said “This is because of critical inquiries in both these industries that cannot be handled by the closure of certain service units, coupled with the rise of additional online inquiries due to lockdowns preventing people from doing their business in person.”

Email marketing and brand awareness: An email analysis showed that approximately 4% of brands are abusing COVID-19, using it as an excuse to gain higher opening rates from email recipients, with the survey suggesting that up to 80% of brands feel strongly against using the pandemic as a marketing ploy to gain additional exposure. Upon content analysis, the biggest disturbance in terms of related spam originated from Hong Kong / China based companies who do email marketing to unrelated client lists, promoting masks and PPE.

Remote support: Uncertainty about future staffing requirements, budgets and the fact that remote management has become a reality during COVID-19, has led to 40% of respondents confirming it is likely that near-term hiring will involve remote workers, where this was not previously the case. At the same time, thousands of US, UK and European employees unable to perform conventional roles in the sector, are seen to move towards freelancing, potentially creating an oversupply in the gig economy.

Overall media rates: Media buyers are largely looking to renegotiate rates with publishers in order to gain parity between the lower pay per click charges levied by Google, Facebook and Linkedin. Currently many publishers have not lowered their rates on native content, where in countries like the UK, the government has become the largest supporter of certain publications as other businesses collapse.

Other observations that came from the survey included sentiments that Google search remains a higher ROI channel, together with native and content marketing efforts, with Linkedin Marketing Services being one of the channels with the lowest ROI and lower trust among marketers. It is noted in particular that entertainment, virtual services and the gaming sector are currently seeing an uptick in consumer spending, with a matching increase in marketing spend across all digital channels.

Assessment of the marketing and advertising industry:
Given the ability to cope with remote work and the presence of digital services requiring virtual delivery as opposed to physical items and delivery, it remains one of the least affected industries with regards to continuity. It is however heavily affected by the closure of small businesses and uncertainty in multiple industries.

About the survey:
The survey was a collaborative effort between a Directories giant (Directory-Submit) which deals with several hundred CMO’s and marketing agencies, and Sitetrail Media, which is a supplier to more than 500 CMO’s and other digital agencies.

Adriaan Brits
Sitetrail
email us here
+44 20 3287 1724
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.