Article -> Marketing Budgets Up in 2006

Date Added: April 2006

A recent survey of marketing leaders found that 60.7% of respondents are working with larger marketing budgets this year versus last year. This is great news if organizations utilize the extra funds to their advantage. More than 69% of respondents claimed they plan to introduce new marketing campaigns this year. Normally, when budgets are tight or sales are declining, marketing budgets are scaled back - not particularly the wisest decision as this is counter-productive to bringing those sales back.¹

More than 67% of respondents plan to increase their marketing budgets an average of 13%. The percentage increase for marketing budgets is a higher percentage overall than the increase in corporate budgets in general, approximately 15%. With the emergence of Internet use, it is important to increase online marketing budgets as well. This includes web sites, e-mail marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

Increasing a marketing budget is important for several reasons, most notably:

• Customer Acquisition - Strive to acquire new customers and appeal to a larger target market.
• Brand Awareness - Increase the depth of market understanding with products/services.
• Customer Retention - Keep and grow current profitable customers.

The importance being placed on marketing budgets is about building brand recognition that will make your company stand out from your competitors. This also has a lot to do with higher costs of doing business and the overall economic environment. Organizations are placing more importance on research related to business/market intelligence and trend analysis to compete with others. Finding out exactly what customers want and need is becoming more important in our competitive environment where everyone is connected globally.

Some of the top marketing trends include:

• Vertical Searches - Vertical search engines allow marketers to reach segmented audiences. An example of this is Advanstar Communications, who specialize in selling dental products, and designed their website specifically for dentists to buy tools and equipment.
• Online Video Ads - The Interactive Advertising Bureau has established new standards for online video ads. Soon, the technology will evolve and formats for online videos will become more standardized.
• Measuring New Media - Since the Internet began, there has been no way to tell how effective an Internet ad's Return on Investment is. Now, systems for tracking performance of new media such as blogs, podcasts, and Search Engine Optimization have been developed, while others are turning to third-party vendors to provide measurement.

With the emergence of the Internet and other forms of marketing, it is becoming more difficult to effectively measure and track marketing budgets. You and your current supplier should be able to determine your measurable goals and know if they are being met. If you don't know this, you are simply throwing dollars down the drain.

¹"Budgeting for 2006." BtoB online. December 12, 2005.