59 percent of marketers are more optimistic about the U.S. economy than they were just one quarter ago.
Perhaps that’s not too surprising to you – after all, “green shoots” have been popping up all over – but it’s research-based, and from an unimpeachable source: Duke’s Fuqua School of Business …probably one that not many of our readers monitor.
Conducted by Professor Christine Moorman, this late-July survey of 511 top marketing executives revealed several additional interesting conclusions…
- 47 percent feel more optimistic about prospects for revenue from end customers
- 48 percent expect an increase in purchase volume, 44 percent look forward to customers buying more related products and services, and 35 percent predict an increase in new customers
- 34 percent rank price as their customers’ top priority, indicating that the recessionary belt-tightening is not over just yet
In keeping with most other reports, these marketers plan a decrease of 8% for their traditional advertising, and an increase of 10% in their Internet marketing budgets. Perhaps most stunning of all: these CMOs plan to increase spending on social media by more than 300 percent, increasing their budget allocations for social media from 3.5% to 13.7% over the next five years. (So apparently it’s not just a fad after all!)
