In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss the peculiar budget cuts that CMOs are making for 2024 marketing budgets and how it will impact marketing teams. We talk about the surprising reductions in spending for CRM, customer experience, and brand building. We analyze the disconnect between using AI to improve productivity while severely cutting staff. Katie and Chris examine the different types of creative thinking needed on marketing teams and the risks of letting go of divergent thinkers. We explain why AI alone can’t magically fix poor data tracking or replace most marketing roles. Katie and Chris provide helpful perspective on AI’s capabilities and limitations that decision makers should understand before slashing budgets. Tune in to gain insight into crafting budgets and strategies that balance AI and human skills.

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In this week’s In-Ear Insights, let’s talk about marketing, budgeting 2024.

And some very peculiar decisions that CMOs are making around their spending.

So Katie, the new cmo survey just came out not too long ago, according to what you were just saying.

And there’s a whole bunch of really interesting things.

In this biannual presentation, one of the ones that really stood out to me that I was just absolutely shocked at was the demos decided, in terms of where they’re going to be changing, they’re spending in 9%, reduction, CRM, okay, I can understand that a 90% reduction in customer experience spending, which seems counterintuitive since customer experiences while the less differentiators you have.

And then a whopping 43% reduction in spending on brand building, which to me, is quite possibly the stupidest thing you could do in 24.

So Katie, what were your takeaways? As you were looking through this deck, particularly on where it’s where people are spending their budgets for 2024? Well,

there’s a couple of things.

So it looks like budgets are budgets are basically still going down, but it’s dropped near pre COVID levels.

And this is what we’re talking three, four years ago now.

Budgets are getting slashed left and right.

I mean, we’re seeing it in the job market, we’re seeing people get laid off.