Since the latest release of the biannual Mutinex Marketing ROI Index report, one thing’s for certain. Uncertainty. A lingering anxiety has seen marketers shift large chunks of budget towards digital delivery, at the expense of traditional channels.

But here’s the kicker

In some cases it’s also been at the expense of revenue — and that’s an orange flag. Yes, digital is more agile. Yes, there’s logic in following the audiences. And yes, it allows you to drive reach with more specific audiences at a lower cost, and “do more with less”. But no, it’s not that simple. No, it’s not without its pitfalls. And no, it’s not going to be a viable, long term solution.

Because a closer look at the data produces a stark warning to marketers: chasing efficiency through budget reallocations may improve ROI on an individual channel level, but it doesn’t always help the overall revenue.

Remember memorability

A look at the figures for linear TV says it all. The average share of spend dropped from 32 per cent to 25 per cent YoY in 2023/24, a fall of 7 per cent. But at the same time, the average share of revenue fell by 5 per cent. So landing that efficiency has arguably cost the bottom line quite a lot.

While it’s clearly key to recalibrate media strategies and align with a landscape defined by complexity and uneven growth, another thing is also abundantly clear: incremental ROI improvements may look good on paper, but they could be harming the bottom line.

Digital is attractive. But no marketer should discard the long-term positive revenue effects of a memorable above the line campaign. When changing media plans, the ideal is to find the sweet-spot that allows a reduction in wasteful spend without revenue taking a hit. While also balancing that with investment in other areas that will increase revenue over time.
 

Time to tool up

The reality is, you can’t understand the full impact of media plan changes unless you’re using really robust cross channel planning tools and reviewing results regularly. Because if there's one thing for certain in the current economy: the only constant is change.

At Mutinex, we have exactly those tools, built into our GrowthOS offering. Within the Scenario Planner, Optimizer answers all those nagging doubts about how to best reallocate budgets, but not at the expense of revenue: Quick Optimize lets you validate relative impacts to changes in budgets, while Super Optimize is ideal for putting the finishing sense-checks on a single, finalised budget.

More than ever, in uncertain times, marketers need tools like these. The bottom line: it’s good for the bottom line. And it’s all in the Mutinex Marketing ROI Index report Q1.

Download it now for a clear, bigger picture.