More than 50% of marketers increased their budgets in 2012, and only 22% saw budget reductions, according to a new report from the CMO Council.
Liz Miller, vice president of marketing programs and operations at the CMO Council, says marketers seem confident going into 2013. “In the last few years, there was definitely more of a sense of ‘I’m just going to hang on and hold my breath until things get better.’ But marketers are definitely planning for the future, piloting and testing more, and investigating new channels.”
Marketing in general seems like it is in a much smarter place than in 2006-2007, when people were “just throwing money at things,” she says. Nearly half of those surveyed for the CMO Council’s Sixth Annual State of Marketing Audit reported they would be hiring new talent, with only 19% expecting to make staffing cuts.
The need for a full mobile experience was also reported by respondents, with marketers looking beyond just having an app to support their brand. Marketers are also looking more seriously at how social fits into their engagement structure—nearly 60% of respondents said they expect to make an agency change in the next year, with a need to find increased social expertise a major reason for that shift.
Some respondents also reported they were looking to move core services previously outsourced in-house, particularly in strategic areas like data analysis. Data gurus who can take both structured data and unstructured data from sources like social and turn it into actionable information will be in demand, notes Miller.
In traditional marketing spending, there was only one big loser that would see significantly decreased marketing spending: 31% of newspaper advertisers will be decreasing those expenditures.
Nearly 70% of the chief marketers surveyed by the CMO Council said they had received a salary increase or bonus in 2011, and 73% expect the same this year. Only 11% of chief marketers believe their job is at risk; 38% said they believe they are not fairly compensated compared to 39% who are satisfied with their current compensation.
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