In a recent study by Anderson Analytics for the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), it's no surprise that the economy is weighing heavily on marketers looking toward 2009. Marketing executives are going back to basics and are struggling with digital concepts. More than half of the marketers surveyed said their budgets will be cut in the coming year, and another 44% said they'll cut or freeze hiring.
Back to basics
Marketers are more concerned now about credit availability, housing markets, alternative energy and the trade deficit. The overall trend result is a back-to-basics strategy by marketers. When asked what marketing concepts are "most important," they ranked as the top four customer satisfaction (79%), customer retention (76%), marketing ROI (65%) and brand loyalty (61%).
Buzzword fatigue
Digital ideas such as “Web 2.0”, “social networking”, “social media”, “blog” and “viral marketing” ranked as a bit more important this year, yet buzzword fatigue has also set in more firmly as more marketers were tired of hearing it.
Talking about generations
Baby boomers remained the most important demographic group, according to 78% of these senior-level marketers. However, the Gen Y and Gen X each jumped by more than 10 percentage points in importance. Overall, marketers seem to be casting a wider net, reflecting that in a down economy you can't only target who you did last year.
Pockets of optimism
The surprise is that there are still pockets of optimism. For instance, almost three-fourths said they think spending on research and development, along with innovation initiatives, will stay the same or even increase (21% in the latter category). Spending on market research is also expected to stay the same or increase, according to two-thirds of the marketers surveyed. Marketers believe that in this economy they have to know their current customer well and keep them happy. They also acknowledge the use of things like competitive intelligence and data mining as important concepts.
The favorites
Author Seth Godin remained the No. 1-ranked marketing/business guru and "Good to Great" was the top book. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the No. 2 most-named guru last year, dropped to No. 4. Perhaps reflecting the economy, financier Warren Buffett took his spot (up from No. 4 last year). Author Malcolm Gladwell jumped to No. 3 (up from No. 8 last year).
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