ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

A new study indicates that many are actually increasing their marketing spend.

While it's true that 50% of the businesses responding to the recent Chief Marketing Office (CMO) Council online survey plan to cut marketing budgets, 29% plan an increase this year and the rest will hold steady with flat budgets. That's the top-line finding of the just released CMO Council Marketing Outlook based on an online survey of 650 global marketing executives.

According to the CMO Council's VP of programs and operations, Liz Miller, businesses in general, and small and midsize businesses in particular, are being strategic about cost cutting. "Within the SMB space, we're seeing a real understanding that this is not a time to go crazy and slash all your marketing budget," she says. "In the past, the tendency was to take out the axe immediately and head for marketing. Now, the move to isn't to cut marketing, but make it smarter."

Customer anxiety is the leading factor in determining marketing budgets for 2009, according to the finding, but slower selling cycles, and reduced customer spending also factor prominently. There's also a shift from traditional outlets to digital marketing according to Miller. "If you stick to the old venues -- print, TV, and radio -- you're going to have a bumpy year," she says. "There's a shift toward investing in digital space, but also looking to invest smarter -- you need to be smart about your quantify your efforts and not just throw money into Facebook. Marketers need to ask how investments in digital forms will move the bottom line."

The survey found that skills development is a key emphasis for marketers looking to move online. Almost 63% of respondents preferred training existing staff in digital marketing skills to recruiting new talent (28%), or outsourcing (17%).

In part, Miller attributes the emphasis on retraining on the fundamentals of customer engagement. "It's all about reaching the key influencer," she says. "The strategy is the same, but the tactics need to adapt to the new digital technologies.

More findings from the study are available from the CMO Council.

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