The CWA Eye: More bang for your buck

With budgets squeezing for everyone, from consumers to companies, it is certainly no surprise that clients will want to get more value from their projects and campaigns this year… who can blame them?

Late last year, ten of our experts sat down in the not-so-private Diary Room to predict and think about what clients want to see more of in 2023. The overriding theme from the big chair was utilising clients’ marketing budgets to their full extent and how at CWA we would do that.

Find your Achillies’ heel and decide your next move

Defining your needs is a must. It helps you keep focus along a project’s journey and ensures the end-goal is always thought about. Our lead strategist at CWA, Gladys, expands on this for us: “Marketing is an investment; you’re spending money to make money. Would you ever attempt to renovate your kitchen without clearly defining what you want to achieve? In a similar fashion, it makes little sense to throw money at a marketing campaign if you’re not aware of your ultimate target.

“Equally you can use data to decide your next move, see what is currently working for your brand, and what isn’t, and make informed decisions on how to pursue your next campaign.”

No more one-hit wonders

Our social media specialist, Adam, explains: “In 2023, for brands and clients, we think it will be more about buying packages. Budgets won’t stretch as far and being cost-effective will be pivotal for brands to get what they need from their marketing. For us, it will be about showing added value and pushing the results. For instance, social media and PR packages or perhaps video & social campaigns… Or even SEO, website content and social media management. Any package that can deliver the initial ask and provide the vehicle to keep these projects moving afterwards.

“In 2023, with influencer marketing booming, I can see more strategy requests for agencies to deliver. I see brands and clients wanting to use content creators more and more to connect to a fresh, targeted audience with what the brand has to offer.”

Gladys added: “When you align channels together you can maximise resources effectively, including budgets, increasing audience reach and delivering on client's KPIs.”

Out with the old, in with the new

Keeping on your toes is important in the ever-changing marketing world and adapting ways of working is a perfect way to ensure you’re getting the most out of your day.

Our designer, Chris, explains: “We always try to keep abreast of developments in tech & software that make our job more efficient or productive. Ways of working are always evolving and becoming smarter, whether it’s the automation of processes, new tools, easier integration of existing tools, or the increase in mobile apps, these things can all help us arrive at solutions quicker for our clients. Then it falls to using the budgets wisely, strategically choosing where they’re spent and targeting who you really want to talk to.”

CWA’s overarching thoughts on how budgets may be utilised this year:

• Use data to make decisions – According to research, 80% of marketing data goes unused. Data isn’t just a load of numbers on a screen. It’s a story of how your target audience interact with your campaigns. It tells you whether they resonate with your strategy, content, creatives, channels and more. If you have the stats, use them!
• Ditch what isn’t working – It’s important to know what is working for you and what isn’t. If you have three marketing avenues, and one isn’t delivering, you need to address it. Sometimes it’s small adjustments, sometimes it needs monetary attention, and sometimes it needs a big decision… to ditch it.
• Package it up – If you have lots going on in your marketing world from campaigns to events to internal comms etc.… maybe it’s time to package it up. Make sure you’re making the most of your marketing spend and ensuring all your key messages are delivered. For example with communication, there’s always an internal and external audience… they both need to be spoken to, don’t just assume one piece of comms does the trick!

Catch up with the full series of CWA The Eye on our social media channels now. And if you currently planning your marketing budgets or event calendars, make sure you reach out to us so we can ensure you’re getting the added value you deserve… drop us a message.