Major brands have been searching primarily for help with social media management and content creation this month – and more specifically on the TikTok platform.
The latest Marketers Most Wanted report, produced by agency matchmaking platform StudioSpace – eighth on our MarTech 50 ranking this year – monitors the actual briefs posted by chief marketing officers and brand owners on the platform.
This most recent report found that the proportion of social and content briefs submitted to StudioSpace has risen from 18.2% in August to 18.8% in September – its fourth month in a row on top of the list.
“The biggest areas of investment in terms of content management are TikTok and influencer campaigns,” said StudioSpace CEO Pete Sayburn.
“Brands are looking to outsource specialist skills to help them reach and grow brand awareness amongst new target customers in non-traditional ways, such as through a use of trending audio and product placements.”
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In second place was briefs looking for help with UX and UI design – 12.5% – which has risen from third to second place this month, pushing creative and production briefs, which made up 15.2% of briefs in August but only 10% of the total in September, down into third place.
The percentage of briefs asking for UX and UI design assistance has been consistently in the top three for several months now.
“Brands are looking for external resources to boost internal capability as they undergo digital transformation,” confirmed Sayburn.
“Much of this transformation is driven by a move to D2C, and we’re finding that brands enjoy the flexibility to upweigh or downweigh external UX/UI resource for critical delivery crunch-points.”
Other key features of September’s report included a re-entry from research and insight (5%) – likely as a result of brands looking to analyse their YE data and predict forecasts for the coming year – and from event and spatial design (3.8%).
A new entry was also seen from media buying, with 3.8% of briefs looking for this sort of specialism. This entry indicates that brands are still wanting to outsource media planning and buying to external specialists and thus ensure that they spend their investments in the right place.
Despite persistent tough economic conditions, brands are still looking externally for support across a range of specialisms.
“As we move into the colder months, businesses are looking for fresh ideas from specialist agencies to reach people from the comfort of their own homes, hence the increase in social media and content briefs we’ve been seeing and expect to continue to see,” Sayburn concluded.