New research from Econsultancy and Clash-Media shows that 53% of marketing budgets for UK, European and US companies have increased in the past year.
This extra budget is being used to fund high-return Online Lead Generation campaigns, the report found, with 61% of spend now made online, compared to 51% last year.
Paid Search has become less popular, with 12% fewer companies using it compared to last year, while the more measurable and ROI-driven Email Marketing has increased by 2%.
Customers are moving more budget online, because of its cost-effectiveness (72%) and ability to increase the customer base (73%).
Simon Wajcenberg, CEO of Clash-Media, said: “It’s great news for the industry that the majority of marketers are seeing increased budgets – and very few are seeing a reduction – and that they can see the benefits of Online Lead Generation.
“What did surprise us about the results is how few people – 35% – saw the benefits of performance-based campaigns. This leads us to believe that not enough providers are delivering transparent campaigns, which inhibits their ability to be performance-based.”
Earlier this month, the IPA’s latest Bellwether survey revealed that the rate of decline in UK marketing spend has eased for the second quarter in a row (see Bellwether Report: Marketing budgets cut at slower rate in Q2).
The 2009 Q2 report links the easing to an improvement in business confidence, with companies surveyed reporting that their financial prospects have improved for the first time since the first quarter of last year.
Also this month, ZenithOptimedia forecast that the global ad market will decline 8.5% this year, with the UK set to suffer a 10.5% fall (see ZenithOptimedia revises down global ad forecast).
