It’s always useful to be able to compare the way your marketing budget is divided between different digital tactics. Particularly if changes in allocation are highlighted and ideally if the budgets are for similar companies.
A new international survey from Econsultancy and Exact Target helps with the first question. Over 350 businesses participated in the survey with the majority of respondents based in the US (45%) or UK (33%) but the survey is global and covers sizeable businesses – not just bloggers like many surveys. Over one half of the sample has a turnover of more than $ 10 million.
With permission this post includes what I believe to be the two most useful insights from the report Marketing Budgets 2010: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation Report. I believe this report is essential reading for all marketers or digital marketers involved in digital marketing. There are over 40 figures in all and excellent sections on measuring effectiveness and ROI and approaches to budget allocation. It’s a great complement to the ‘Managing Digital Channels’ Report I wrote for Econsultancy which gives advice on strategy and governance for digital marketing.
Proportion of marketing budget allocated to digital channels
Proportion of marketing budget spent on digital marketing. Source: Econsultancy Feb 2010.
This chart suggests that if you are investing less than 10 or 20% of budget on digital then you may be out of step with your competitors and certainly consumption of digital media by your prospects and customers.
This chart would be more useful split out by market or industry, but it does provide a benchmark against your current spending.
Allocation of budget to digital media channels
Variation in different digital marketing tactic used 2009-2010. Source: Econsultancy. Feb 2010.
For those involved in allocation in a current budgeting cycle, this chart will certainly be interesting. As many readers would expect social media, usefully split into on-site, i.e. blogs, communities, reviews, comment and offsite social presence, is receiving an increase by many organisations.
A couple of other notable features of the survey are the other winners and losers.
The trusted digital stalwarts, search engine optimisation and, to a lesser degree, email marketing are receiving increased investment.
But paid search, display advertising and affiliate marketing are facing the biggest decline.
