Over the past decade, tech buyers have trended sharply upward toward a preference for engaging digitally and with ecommerce. Now, the disruption caused by the pandemic has forced companies to roll two years’ worth of digital transformation into a compressed timeline. For the first time, digital spend is at 51%, surpassing non-digital investment (see Figure 3). Companies are making investments to shore up marketing technology, integrate data and analytics, and add digital skill sets. IDC doesn’t believe the shift in digital investment is temporary. The next normal has digital moving from a siloed vertical capability into a horizontal core competency.
IDC 2021 Data from Tech Marketing Benchmark Survey: Digital Investment Outpaces Non-Digital Investment
Creative and Brand Services Get a Big Boost
Marketing is in the spotlight for managing brands’ response to the pandemic, addressing their position on social justice issues, and creating brand awareness and preference. As a result, total investment on brand registered nurse database efforts is at a five-year high. Corporations need more brand awareness through their online digital presence, promotions, and advertising. There has been an infusion of creative digital brand assets to reach customers where they are and address several substantive issues.
From 2015 to 2020, brand program spending increased 35.7% despite a significant drop from 2016 to 2018. During the same five-year time frame, staff spending grew 126.92%. Hardware and software companies have a larger percentage of creative and brand staff than their software and cloud counterparts. On the flipside, software and cloud providers invest more in brand identity.