Often the first experience our customers have with our business is through marketing and advertising messages. It looks like 2011 will be a big year for big messages…
According to a Strongmail research study:
- Half of businesses plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2011,
- Another 43% plan to maintain current levels, and
- Only 7% of respondents plan to decrease marketing budgets.
That’s a big increase in planned spending when compared to the results of the same study in 2009!
2011 might be a year for “outsourced marketing resources” or doing more without increasing staffing levels. Survey respondents indicated “a lack of resources/staff to be the biggest email marketing challenge in 2011.”
According to the research (Surprise, Surprise) email marketing and social media will be the top areas of investment in 2011, followed by Search and Direct Mail.
Budgets will likely shrink for Tradeshows and Events (but those decreases should be far less than in prior years)
For that extra investment, in 2011 marketers will be targeting “Customer Engagement.”
I’ve never advocated for “keeping up with the Jones” so I think it’s wise to begin to think about “zigging” when others are “zagging”
What will you do in 2011 to cut through what looks like a very cluttered year of email and social networking messages?
