Britain’s marketers are more confident about the future of the economy, the prospects for their own business, and the growth of sales than they were six months ago, according to the latest Chartered Institute of Marketing trends survey.
Completed for the Institute by Ipsos MORI the survey revealed that nearly half (48%) of those questioned for the study said that they expected economic conditions to stay the same over the next twelve months, while 19% believe that things will improve.
In last Autumns survey, just 45% said that the economy would remain stable while 13% said things were on the up. During the Autumn survey, 40% thought there would be a down turn, but this figure has now fallen to 30%. While 28% of those questioned thought that the outlook remained the same for their own organisation, over half (54%) believed that conditions would improve.
Nearly a fifth (19%) of those surveyed said that their sales were set to grow by between 6% and 10% while 13% were expecting sales to be up by between 11% and 15% and another 16% are expecting sales to grow by 16% or more.
Over a quarter (27%) of those taking part in the survey said that they would be increasing the size of their marketing department, while 13% were planning to cut back on the number of staff they employed.
However, the institute says that a worrying trend is emerging. The figures are bleak compared to the summer of 2004, when 47% were planning to increase their department, and just 3% were predicting a reduction. And in Summer 2005, nearly a third (31%) were planning to take on more staff, while 9% were expecting to shed jobs.
In addition, the importance given to marketing within an organisation has declined slightly, with 59% saying it was a high priority within an organisation compared with 63% in the previous survey.
The survey also found that advertising remains one of the heaviest lines on the marketing budget, and 16% said that they spent over 20% of their budget on this activity, while 12% spent 20% or more on CRM. 10% spent more than a fifth of their budget on PR.
Paul Gostick, chairman of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said; “It is still the case that too few organisations recognise that marketing is central to success. The number of firms reporting that marketing is considered a high priority has slipped from over three quarters (67%) in Winter to 2005 to just over half today. Marketers need to talk the talk of the boardroom and focus on new and better ways to demonstrate that marketing is not just about pens and t-shirts but an essential business function.”
Advertising remains one of the heaviest lines on the marketing budget, and 16% said that they spent over 20% of their budget on this activity, while 12% spent 20% or more on CRM. 10% spent more than a fifth of their budget on PR.
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