1. Survey: marketing budgets move online
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Aileen O'Toole, Managing Director, AMAS
Ireland’s marketing decision-makers are moving more of their budgets online, with a majority committing over 10% of their overall marketing spend to online advertising and promotion. This is the main finding of the 2008 Irish Online Marketing Sentiment Survey conducted by AMAS among members of the Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII).
For the first time, those who hold the marketing purse strings in Ireland have indicated how their media and promotional buying habits have changed in response to greater internet usage.
The results show:
• 56% of marketing professionals spend over 10% of their budget online
• Email campaigns are the most popular form of online advertising or promotional activity and are used by 64% of respondents
• Search engine optimisation (SEO) and banner advertising are the next most popular, with usage levels of 46% and 41% respectively
• Value for money and measurement are main reasons for use of online
• Newer forms of online promotion are gaining traction, with 20% using blogs or social networks to promote their products or services.
Online advertising formats. Source: 2008 Irish Online Marketing Sentimental Survey, Marketing Institute of Ireland/AMA
The survey was conducted among members of the MII between July and August through an online questionnaire. The results are based on a total of 268 respondents who said they are responsible for their companies’ or organisations’ marketing budgets. The sample included a broad mix of businesses and sectors across the economy.
The survey was designed to assess the extent to which marketers are moving budgets online, in line with trends in other more mature online markets such as the UK and the US. And the answer is a resounding yes.
Take one particular trend – the number of marketers who don’t do any online advertising or promotions at all. Currently that stands at just 14% of the sample. However, this time last year almost 30% of the sample said that they were not using online.
The trend is particularly noticeable among SMEs, those employing 50 or fewer. They demonstrate a greater conversion to online than the overall sample. For some online advertising formats they are showing higher penetration than larger businesses, those employing 200 or more. For instance:
• 53% of SMEs use SEO, compared with 38% of larger businesses
• 66% use email marketing campaigns, compared with 48% among bigger businesses
This is in line with international trends. SMEs which once considered advertising campaigns outside of their reach and budget have taken to online marketing, with many adopting a DIY approach thanks to the extensive range of free resources and tools available on the Internet.
That said, the AMAS/MII survey showed little difference between smaller and larger businesses in Ireland in terms of their usage of Search Engine Marketing (paid placement or sponsored links, such as Google AdWords).
Online’s gain has been at the expense of other media. The survey supports anecdotal evidence that press and direct mail have been the hardest hit.
Marketing budget pie. Source: 2008 Irish Online Marketing Sentimental Survey, Marketing Institute of Ireland/AMAS
A total of 47% of the sample said that they had moved spend from direct mail to online while 44% had moved it away from press. How that spend is being diverted varies across different categories. In the case of direct mail, 20% of respondents said that the shift in spend was more than 15% of the budget for direct mail. For press, the shift was less pronounced, with just under 15% of the sample saying they had moved more than 15% of their press budget online.
Value for money has to be the marketer’s catch phrase in these straitened economic times. Unsurprisingly, survey respondents state that “optimising of reach” (53%) and “measuring responses”
are the main reasons for using online. See page 6 Marketers find value, accountability online for further analysis.
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