• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, May 22, 2023

Marketing budgets compose 9.1% of total company revenue this year -- remaining relatively flat but still dipping slightly from the 9.5% reported in 2022, according to Gartner, which released the findings Monday.

The latest CMO Spend Survey -- which analyzes responses from 410 CMOs and marketing leaders and was fielded in March and April of this year -- looks at marketing budgets for 2023 and captures how CMOs feel about their ability to execute strategies.

The respondents are from North America and Northern and Western Europe, across different industries, company sizes and revenue -- with the vast majority of respondents reporting annual revenue of more than $1 billion.

Gartner experts presented the findings today during the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo.

Marketers have been asked to do more with less for years, but this year 75% of CMOs said they are facing increased pressure to “do more with less” and deliver profitable growth in 2023.

Some 86% of marketers said they must make significant changes to how the marketing function works to achieve sustainable results to accomplish the task.

How are marketers shifting strategies toward profitable growth in the second half of 2023? The data shows CMOs expect to increase social advertising spend and decrease search.

Paid media leads in budget allocation — 25.6% of overall 2023 budget — across major marketing resources. Marketing technology at 25.4%, labor at 24.6%, and agencies at 23.3% follow.

Social advertising will take the most paid media budget, followed by digital video advertising and influencer marketing.

Search advertising was identified by the most respondents to receive decreased investment in 2023.