Posted on by Andy Alagappan
Results compiled from a recent survey of 36 tech marketing vendors.
 
Brand vs. Lead Generation – The IDC survey indicates that B2B marketers have ranked demand generation significantly higher than awareness building for marketing initiatives. In good times, IDC has found that the rankings of demand generation and awareness building are equal.

The further that a marketing activity is distanced from the sales team, the deeper the cuts will be. IDC forecasts deep to moderate cuts in branding, big tent events, marketing strategy and product marketing but moderate increases in lead management and qualification and sales enablement.

Digital Marketing – IDC reports that digital marketing spend is over 9% of total marketing investment in 2008 and predicts that digital marketing will carve out the largest slice of marketing spend by 2010.

Sales Spend – Areas such as sales administration and outside sales will bear the brunt of cuts while sales enablement and insides sales are forecasted to see increased funding.

Sales investment in Lead Qualification and Demand Generation will increase by 20%+ in 2009.

Sybase is using the recession as an opportunity to assess all marketing programs, even the ‘sacred cows’. Integrated programs are prioritized over one-off, standalone programs. Sybase’s media mix will favor online media such as SEM, social media and virtual events.

CDW has taken a very analytical approach in strategic target marketing and understanding customer behavior. From this, CDW has aligned the essential programs to the strategy and any outliers are subject to scrutiny and cost-cutting.
Be Proactive & Focused – Now more than ever, marketing needs to focus on success, minimize the noise and gain organizational buy-in.
 
Don’t be Misled by the Law of Averages – Although the overall marketing budget may be cut by a significant percentage, there usually is latitude to double down on the winners and cut out the losers with a more effective media mix.
 
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