ExactTarget just released a study tracking marketing budgeting trends.  Not surprisingly, results show digital marketing budgets will increase by 17% in 2010, and will account for 24% of overall marketing budgets.  What is surprising about the results?  70% of the companies surveyed plan to increase their budgets for social media marketing(e.g. Facebook, Twitter).  What makes this number interesting, is that it shows a trend of marketers moving away from focusing solely on channels that produce high ROI towards channels that focus more on branding.  Marketers are beginning to understand that without a positive brand reputation, funneling dollars into channels focusing on ROI won't produce postive results. Below are some other highlights of the survey:
  • 28% of marketers are shifting at least some of their overall marketing budgets from traditional to digital channels.
  • Marketers who focus on "brand reputation" as a measure of marketing effectiveness are most likely to shift their budgets from traditional to digital channels.
  • Only 17% of companies surveyed are increasing their print media budgets, compared to 41% who are decreasing spending.
    • Take a look at this video to hear more thoughts on the shift to digital channels: Do you agree with the results?  Where are your marketing dollars going this year?