Marketers: Media Budgets Will Rise With Economic Upturn

Marketers plan to hit the ground running once the economy takes off.

"Media budgets will be increased as conditions improve, according to more than two-thirds of the respondents (68%) to an April online survey of members of the ANA Brand Marketer Leadership Community panel. Forty-one percent said they will step up social networking/word-of-mouth, and 40% intend to raise spending for innovation and testing/learning.

Activities that are most likely to be maintained throughout the recession include research and development (47%), public relations (42%), innovation/test/learn budgets (33%) and promotion activities (33%). Activities that are most likely to be increased in the current economic environment are pricing deals (47%), social networking and word-of-mouth activities (26%) and public relations efforts (23%).

The survey also polled marketers on long-term branding decisions and measurements. Brand equity is highly important, with metrics squarely focused on the consumer. Products are the most important item to building brand equity (89%) and customer service is a close second (86%). Employees as advocates for a brand are also critically important (81%).

Warning signs of brand deterioration have also shifted, with increased importance being placed on customer-related metrics. According to the survey, marketers are more focused on brand health metrics compared with February 2007, with increased attention on customer conversion/repeat rates (78% vs. 70%); percentage of customers who rate a brand as "excellent" (77% vs. 68%) and net promoter scores (73% vs. 67%).

Media channel effectiveness for building brand equity has also shifted materially. While television is still ranked most important (64%), online (61%) and guerrilla/word of mouth/buzz marketing (57%) have become nearly on par with television, with social media ranked as the next-highest effective media channel (40%). Social media ranked highest as the media channel that marketers would like to use but have not yet been able to implement.

Traditional media channels have declined in importance since the first survey was conducted in February 2007, with television down to 64% from 80%, magazines down to 51% from 67%, and radio down to 30% from 36%. Outdoor was down to 26% from 35% and newspapers dropped to 19% from 36%."

Excerpts from "Media Daily News" of MediaPost Publications

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