Sean Donahue

Survey Shows Marketers Expect to Boost Digital Marketing Budgets

July 18th, 2008

With the U.S. economy still on shaky ground, it’s no surprise that people are looking for signs, prognostication, or insights into how the marketing community might adapt to the slowdown. One of the latest reports finds that digital marketing channels might be the biggest beneficiaries of downturn-induced strategy changes.

Research firm Millward Brown recently polled 252 CMOs, marketing VPs, directors and managers to get their take on plans for marketing spending over the next year. The results:

o 75% expect to increase spending on new media and online initiatives

o 4% said they plan to decrease spending for online initiatives.

Traditional marketing channels didn’t fare as well:

o 35% said they expect to cut advertising budgets

o 29% said they plan to cut point-of-sale marketing

o 16% said they plan to cut public relations

o 16% said they plan to cut direct marketing

The report credits digital marketing’s attractiveness during tough economic times to three major factors: highly measurable; relatively affordable; muh easier targeting of specific audiences.

No argument here on those points. However, marketers’ stated intentions may not hold up in the face of improving or worsening economic conditions. So it bears watching whether the expected bounce for digital marketing emerges.

Categories: Online Marketing Tags:



We no longer accept comments on the MarketingSherpa blog, but we'd love to hear what you've learned about customer-first marketing. Send us a Letter to the Editor to share your story.