Forrester’s gathering some data ahead of its Marketing Forum 2009 event April 23-24 in Orlando, FL, and it might make traditional media folks squirm a little more than they have been to date. I’m one of just a handful of marketing bloggers who’s seen this survey data, and I’m getting it ahead of traditional media channels, so the odds are decent enough that you’re reading this here first.
The study, by Shar VanBoskirk, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research (who will give the keynote a the Marketing Forum), shows that of the 208 marketers surveyed, 59% will increase their interactive marketing budgets by taking money away from traditional marketing. Another 15% will increase interactive budgets without affecting traditional, 14% will increase both, and 7% won’t increase their interactive budgets. Just 9% don’t know, and in this time of uncertainty, that seems pretty low and may express some sign that these marketers are putting their plans into action.
So which traditional budgets are the most vulnerable? There are roughly two groupings – those with roughly 30% to 50% of marketers saying the budgets will be shifted, and then those in the more moderate 7% to 12% range. Marketers say print (53%), direct mail  (40%), newspapers (35%), and magazines (28%) will be decreased to fund interactive, while TV (12%), Yellow Pages (11%), outdoor (9%), radio (8%), and telemarketing (7%) are relatively safe.
So are these marketers using traditional media? You bet, in a big way. Check the lower half of the slide below. The most vulnerable traditional media tactics that marketers will reallocate to interactive budgets are the same as the most widely used traditional media – print, direct mail, magazines, and newspapers.
As far as the interactive media used, mobile seemed higher than I expected, and how are some marketers NOT currently engaging in search engine optimization? Are these marketers who still don’t have websites? I’ll spare a rant on that for another day.
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsThis really doesn’t surprise me in the least, to be honest. Marketing and PR has drastically changed in the last few decades and it’s important to stay relevant to the times. There are so many opportunities out there that simply need to be utilized. One of these interactive strategies that I recently came across I found at – http://micalendar.ca/online-calendar-builder.html – they provide an amazing service, a great way to impress your customers and raise awareness about your company at the same time. Your clients have access to an online calendar builder where they can personalize calendars that are customized with your company’s logo etc. I think it’s the way of the future!