BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 12, 2009) - As companies reel from the fallout from the
worst financial crisis in recent history, chief marketing officers and
other senior marketing practitioners are under more pressure than ever to
minimize marketing waste and maximize return on marketing investment. How
can marketers continue to attract, retain and increase the value of
profitable customers even as these same customers become increasingly
reluctant to spend money? To find out, Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company
(
NYSE:
HHS), surveyed more than 250 diverse enterprises, resulting in the
new benchmark report "Recessionary Marketing: How Best-in-Class Companies
are Weathering the Storm." To access a complimentary copy, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5728-RA-recessionary-marketing-automation.asp.
Aberdeen research reveals that 82% of companies have reallocated their
planned marketing spend for 2009 to varying degrees on account of the
recession. For only 8% of companies has the current economic climate had no
effect on their planned marketing spend. The specific revisions that many
Best-in-Class companies have made to their original marketing plans for
2009 in response to the economic downturn are multifaceted, affecting
everything from the number, scope and types of marketing campaigns that
companies intend to launch to the deployment of new technologies and
analytic capabilities to ensure that the campaigns that do launch achieve
the desired results.
One major trend relates to the migration of marketing spend from high-cost
channels like TV and print to low-cost channels like email that tend to be
more cost effective in yielding the desired results and can also be more
closely tracked and measured, which is imperative from a performance
management perspective. In fact, Aberdeen research reveals that 60% of
Best-in-Class companies have cut their previously allocated marketing spend
in traditional media, 18% by more than half, while 47% of Best-in-Class
companies, compared to 26% of Laggards, have increased their marketing
spend on email marketing.
The report includes a number of recommendations to help spur performance
improvements, based on the actions that Best-in-Class companies are taking,
including an increased emphasis on customer data management and analytics
to enable customer value management and to drive precision marketing
effectiveness. Recommended actions also include the deployment of various
technologies, including market asset management systems, which reduce costs
by providing seamless asset management through content distribution
workflow, mobile marketing solutions, which can be used to reach consumers
on the go in a relevant, engaging and cost-effective manner, and lead
nurturing solutions, which can help overcome the budget freezes and longer
sales cycles that have become hallmarks of the economic downturn.
"The dismal state of the economy is causing companies everywhere to
reassess their marketing budgets," said Jeff Zabin, Research Fellow at
Aberdeen Group. "Companies need to ensure that they're allocating their
limited marketing funds in the most productive ways possible. In many
cases, this means curtailing, postponing or even eliminating previously
planned marketing expenditures. In other cases, companies are actually
investing more aggressively in various types of marketing programs, sensing
an opportunity to capitalize on the grim economic headlines."
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due, in part, to the
following underwriters: Air2Web, Manticore Technology, Neolane, Saepio and
Silverpop. To access a complimentary copy, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5728-RA-recessionary-marketing-automation.asp
For additional access to complimentary
Customer
Management Research, please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-customer-management.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more
than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely
positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating
demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment
analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,
corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen
http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more
about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to
http://www.harte-hanks.com.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Jeff Zabin
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(847) 328-4795
jeff.zabin@aberdeen.com