UK Marketing Budgets Grew in Q2 2023 as sales promotions prompted spend. And brands are seeing 8x better engagement on threads.
Have a read of this week’s Fresh Ink for more updates:
– BBC Maintains Top Spot as Biggest News Brands
– Intent to Explore, isn’t always Intent to Buy
– Twitter’s having an Ad Drought
UK Marketing Budgets Grew in Q2 2023
Total marketing budgets grew solidly in Q2 as businesses stayed focused on protecting their brands. The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Bellwether’s Q2 Report reported that sales promotions grew at record levels, up 13.4% as UK firms pour money into price reductions. Events budgets also saw a resurgence. 14.5% of businesses predicted growth in events budgets over 2023/24.
Bellwether Report – UK businesses boost sales promotions to record levels but pessimism lingers
BBC Maintains Top Spot as Biggest News Brand
The BBC maintained its position as the biggest news brand in the world. It was followed by msn.com, CNN, New York Times and Mail Online (409.6 million visits) which last month overtook Google News to enter the top five. Google News continued its decline, it saw the largest fall in traffic among the top ten. Visits to the site of the tech giant’s news aggregator were down 18% year-on-year.
Press Gazette – CBS News was the fastest-growing news website in the world
Brands see 8X better Engagement on Threads
The vast majority of brands that are active on Threads are generating more likes per post in the app than they’re seeing on Twitter, with the overall average sitting at around 8x their normal tweet engagement.
With less than half of the user base of Twitter, there are fewer people to engage. But, also far less competition for attention. Although it’s early days, the signs of brand engagement are encouraging.
Marketing Dive – Early data for brands on Threads shows good engagement
Intent to Explore, isn’t always Intent to Buy
Going all in with prospects that demonstrate intent to explore is risky business. Perceived intent may not be real, and it may not lead to sales. B2B organisations will be better informed by corroborate this data with other key signals, indicative of ready-to-buy behaviour. Focusing on relevance, solving specific pain points, and using the right technologies can better indicate the potential for purchasing.
Demand Gen Report – B2B Sales & Marketing teams must look beyond intent data to recognise true buying signals
Twitter’s having an Ad Drought
Since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October last year, it has lost almost half of its advertising revenue. Its cash flow remains negative, and it has not seen the increase in sales that had been expected in June. Twitter plans to focus on video, creator, and commerce partnerships to entice advertisers back to the platform. But with Threads close at its heels, will this be enough to save Twitter?
BBC News – Twitter loses nearly half advertising revenue since Elon Musk takeover
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