Girl smiling at the latest Marketing Procurement Trends

Marketing Procurement Trends

We look at the latest Marketing Procurement trends and explore why they are so crucial to your business.

Excellent Marketing Procurement is about adding value, finding greater efficiencies and doing more with less, which becomes even more critical in an economic downturn.

Marketing Procurement is an invaluable part of any business and is the all-important bridge that connects internal stakeholders and external partners, agencies and suppliers while underscoring the value of creativity and innovation.

Marketing Procurement can be the catalyst to a successful brand. So, with this in mind, knowing that the marketing landscape is challenging.

Marketing Procurement Trends 01: Best Practice 

Best practice has been long underrated when considered side-by-side with marketing and procurement. This year, brands need to invest in creating best practice frameworks that enable teams to lean into the lessons learned, both from within the business and other brands. 

These lessons need to be bite-sized, sharp and accessible so your teams can constantly learn from them, and the benefits are instilled within the very fabric of your marketing procurement teams. Best practice should include:

  • Clearly defined standards that ensure your marketing purchasing is efficient
  • Benchmarking spend so you have clear visibility into true value and ROI
  • Standardising processes, RFPs, SOWs, contracts and negotiations 
  • Regular agency reviews and evaluations, particularly at the end of each project

Marketing Procurement Trends 02: Data-led decision making

Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) want access to better data. Its value has been proven time and again and now, as markets get intensely competitive and differentiation is key, data rules supreme.

The Procurement Leaders CPO Compass report revealed that CPOs are investing in data and technology solutions designed to help them reshape their planning and investments. The most popular resolutions are supplier performance management (57%), spend analytics (54%) and supplier risk management (55%). There is a need for tools that help them better benchmark and manage their spend using real data and insights that are relevant to their particular business and markets.

Data is also an invaluable ally in helping companies be more efficient, particularly in the current climate. It can help with investing with wisdom, planning more strategically and optimising spend carefully. 

Marketing Procurement Trends 03: Costs and savings (and being efficient)

Everyone wants to save money right now. The economic outlook is challenging, and brands want to build a foundation that’s stable enough to weather the storms but agile enough to take advantage of opportunities. This is why saving money, and managing cost centres will be even more critical in 2023.

To ensure that your business is ready for what lies ahead, you need to maximise your marketing investments and efficiencies. 

Being efficient is important because the money saved can be reinvested back into the business and redeployed into other opportunities. Using a benchmarking tool, like RightSpend, can enable judicious spending and potentially save millions thanks to crystal-clear visibility into costs.

Marketing Procurement Trends 04: Continuity

Investing into the continuity of deliverables and marketing activities allows you to build on previous successes, align with your best practice framework and use data to refine decision-making. 

Continuity also underpins stronger relationships and success factors with agency partners, internal teams, and stakeholders.

Focusing on continuity, strategic spend, and careful contract negotiations ensures that all stakeholders feel secure. This confidence is invaluable, especially in the uncertain times we’ll be seeing in 2023, as it helps retain talent, build on previous successes and forge partnerships with your agencies on a foundation of trust.

Marketing Procurement Trends…What else lies ahead? 

These Marketing Procurement trends are simply scratching the surface of what 2023 has to offer. We’ve found that brands are looking to maintain focus, selecting the right tools and technologies to help them navigate complexity and giving themselves the insights they need to grab hold of all the potential opportunities.