If you are in the final phases of locking down your 2010 marketing plan and investments to support your brand, lead generation, and customer satisfaction goals I would encourage a final once over to ensure investments are aligned to some recent data that is emerging.
According to the November “2010 Marketing Trends Survey” of business leaders by StrongMail, 89% of respondents plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in email marketing and social media budgets in the New Year. The industry survey of more than 1,000 global business leaders found that the positive outlook is supported by 50% of polled businesses that expect their customers to spend more in 2010, and nearly a quarter more that expect them to spend the same. Only 8% of businesses expect their customers to spend less.
48% of businesses are increasing overall marketing budgets in 2010, and email and social media marketing are the two leading areas of investment at 69% and 59% respectively. Search marketing comes in third at 42%. Conversely, events and direct mail lead the pack in decreased spend at 44% and 42% respectively.
| Marketing Program Spending Plans for 2010 (% of Respondents) | ||
| Program | Increase Spend | Decrease Spend |
| Advertising | 28% | 32% |
| Direct mail | 21 | 42 |
| Email marketing | 69 | 6 |
| Mobile | 22 | 5 |
| Public relations | 19 | 12 |
| Search (SEO/PPC) | 42 | 7 |
| Social media | 59 | 3 |
| Tradeshows & events | 20 | 44 |
| Other | 7 | 7 |
| Source: StrongMail, November 2009 | ||
Social media marketing is a clear focus for businesses, with 69% of respondents planning to integrate it with their email marketing campaigns in 2010. However, of those who have already integrated the two channels, only 42% are achieving a lift in campaign performance. 35% report no significant lift and another 23% are unable to measure. Respondents identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as:
- Awareness building (64%)
- Customer loyalty and retention (49%)
- Expanded reach (46%)
Bill Wagner, executive vice president of business operations at StrongMail, notes that “… this survey reveals a strong focus on high ROI channels like email and emerging ones like social media… (with) an unprecedented number of companies look to integrate email and social media in 2010…”
| Most Important Email Marketing Initiatives in 2010 | |
| Initiative | % Ranking Among Top 3 |
| Improving performance of campaigns | 59% |
| Growing opt-in list | 44 |
| Re-engaging inactive subscribers | 28 |
| Integrating with social media marketing | 42 |
| Integrating with mobile marketing | 19 |
| Improving deliverability | 26 |
| Reducing costs | 19 |
| Integrating into transactional emails | 20 |
| Accessing data to increase relevance | 21 |
| Improve segmentation and targeting | 46 |
| Centralizing on single platform | 11 |
| Other | 4 |
| Source: StrongMail, November 2009 | |
Reported survey highlights include:
- 89% of businesses plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in 2010
- 50% of businesses expect customers to spend more; 23% to spend about the same; 8% to spend less
- 69% of businesses plan to increase marketing budget for email; 59% social media; 42% search
- 69% of businesses plan to integrate email and social media in 2010
- 64% of businesses identify increasing awareness as the primary value for social media
If you haven’t adjusted budgets accordingly I would re-look at plans for investments in ‘10.
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Social media marketing is a clear focus for businesses, with 69% of respondents planning to integrate it with their email marketing campaigns in 2010.
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