Matter Communications — a Brand Elevation Agency that integrates PR, marketing and creative services — today released findings from its 2024 Marketing Outlook Survey. The survey of CMOs and marketing/communications decision-makers uncovered many plans to increase budgets, incorporate AI tools and build their brands next year. The survey found that most (84%) marketers are planning to increase their marketing investments for 2024, with more than 40% planning to do so substantially.
“We’ve been at the forefront of building our clients’ brands for more than 20 years, and our survey results demonstrate that senior-level marketers will continue to invest in programs and services that deliver true brand building ROI like robust social and content programs,” said Mandy Mladenoff, President of Matter. “As new tools and technologies evolve, we will continue to help our clients navigate how to incorporate these into their programs to elevate results and engage key stakeholders in the buyer journey.”
Marketing/Comms Leaders Boost Budgets in Back-to-back Years
Similar to Matter’s 2023 Marketing Survey findings, CMOs and marketing/communications decision-makers overwhelmingly plan to increase budgets again in 2024, despite an uncertain global macroeconomic environment. When asked to select the top three areas where they’re planning to prioritize 2024 marketing/communications budgets, the respondents chose:
- Social media (52%)
- Increased nearly 20% YOY, moving from third to first
- Content marketing (38%)
- Brand building (35%)
- Increased 40% YOY, moving from fifth to third
Of note, when asked to describe their PR/marketing agency relationships and plans for 2024, 78% of respondents who currently work with an agency plan to either increase or maintain their budgets with them.
Marketers Are Embracing AI Head-on
Driven by the continual proliferation of generative AI applications including ChatGPT and similar offerings, marketers have widely embraced AI tools to increase efficiency, create content and utilize predictive analytics for customer insights, the survey revealed. Nearly 85% of CMOs and marketing decision-makers say they already use AI tools in their programs, with 41% leveraging them regularly.
When asked the biggest challenge facing CMOs and marketing/communications decision-makers’ programs for 2024, incorporating new AI tools (26%) was the number one answer, followed by:
- Driving qualified leads/sales (23%)
- “Doing more with less” (20%)
- Measuring marketing performance (17%)
- Proving marketing’s value to leadership (14%)
Despite expected challenges from implementing AI into marketing/communications programs:
- 79% plan to invest in AI in 2024
- 60% of those investing in AI plan to allocate more than 10% of their marketing budget
Of those already using AI, the most used tools are:
- ChatGPT (48%)
- Grammarly (19%)
- Brandwatch (13%)
- Howler (11%)
- Jasper.ai (5%)
- Drift (4%)
The top three areas where marketing/communications programs using AI are seeing the greatest benefits are:
- Content development/ideation (26%)
- Programmatic advertising and media buying (21%)
- Predictive analytics for customer insights (19%)
Research Methodology
The Matter Marketing/Communications Outlook Survey was fielded by a third-party provider on October 5, 2023. The online survey research collected responses from 270 U.S. CMOs and marketing decision-makers across B2B technology, professional services, healthcare, consumer, and food and beverage industries.
With 250+ professionals across offices in Boston and Newburyport, MA, Rochester, NY, Providence, RI, Dallas, TX, and Denver, CO, Matter is one of the fastest-growing PR, marketing and creative firms in the country. Matter has won 14 “Agency of the Year” accolades and has been consistently recognized as a top place to work.
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