Marketing budgets cut but email budgets rise

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising have just released the latest Bellwether report on UK advertising budgets.

Sharpest downturn since 9/11

The report shows that for the third quarter in a row, marketing and advertising budgets have been slashed, the sharpest downturn since the 9/11 attacks.

Email and internet marketing were the sole bright spark, with an overall rise in budgets.

Overall marketing budgets set at the start of the year were only modestly higher than 2007, so any subsequent cuts could lead to an absolute fall in marketing and advertising spending for the year.

“This raises the possibility that marketing spend could fall this year for the first time since the survey began in 2000”, added Chris Williamson, Bellwether report author.

Internet marketing continuing to grow

However, the report found that 19% of companies’ internet marketing budgets, including email, have risen since the start of the year.

"Internet spending will continue to grow as more clients see the importance of this form of communication and the ability to use this medium, like PR, in a tactical context." said Anthony Wreford, deputy chairman at Omnicom Europe.

It's clear that marketers are seeing digital channels as critical in times of economic downturn.

Measurable ROI with email

The return on investment generated from digital channels, and especially email can be enormous – we’ve seen some clients generate ROI’s over 1000% from single email campaigns.

Email  marketing is trackable and accountable, a major benefit when justifying a large slice of a decreasing marketing budget.

Ensure you employ site and ROI tracking on all your email campaigns to maximise their accountability.

 Article Source: The Guardian