Introduction
In October 2006, Alterian conducted its fourth Annual Survey. The attitudes and opinions of 540 marketers and Marketing Services Providers (MSPs) have been considered. Alterian's popular Annual Survey is anticipated by many publications and companies, and provides a clear year-on-year comparative analysis of specific issues such as direct marketing expenditures and challenges faced by marketers.
Objective
The main objective of this survey is to perform an analysis of the direct and database marketing industry; the current challenges and pains, and also anticipated investments and trends. In particular this year, the focus of the survey was on the relationship between online and offline marketing activity, and exploring the benefits of, and barriers to, integrating digital and more traditional marketing.
This paper summarizes the consensus gathered from several questions asked of the respondents, and aims to provide some insight as to what the results may mean to the industry.
Please note that the information presented represents the opinion of the audience surveyed.
Definitions
For the purposes of this survey, online marketing represents all digital form of media and communication, for example, email, RSS feeds, landing pages, pURLS, websites, search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, banner ads, viral marketing and eVouchers. Offline marketing represents the more traditional forms of media for example, Direct Mail and telemarketing.
Overview
Online activities are the direct marketing spending priority for 2007, according to Alterian's fourth annual survey of more than 500 direct marketers, MSPs and agencies. The 2006 survey confirms the growing emphasis on the integration of email marketing, as eighty-five percent of respondents expect their online direct marketing expenditures to increase in 2007. The spending projection is the largest expected increase since the Alterian Annual Survey began in 2003.
Survey Methodology
Source and method of data collection
The survey was conducted throughout the month of October 2006:
- Electronically via an electronic submission form on a dedicated landing page on the Alterian website
- Manually via a hardcopy submission form
- In person at the Direct Marketing Association Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco, California
The quantity, quality and demographics of the survey provide a firm foundation for analysis.
Industry Segments
Survey respondents totaled 540 marketing professionals. There is an approximately even split between providers of marketing services and marketers, with a slight majority of service providers in North America (NA) and marketers in the United Kingdom (UK); neither of which skew the results significantly.
Although the sample of Systems Integrators (SIs) is fairly small, and perhaps prevents clear conclusions from being drawn, the figures are on the edge of being significant and it is of particular interest to explore this sample's application of online channels.
Regions
Regionally, the sample is almost 75% North American, but the total volume of data collected validates any conclusions drawn from the remaining significant sample of UK and European data. The data collected from Asia and 'Other' populations is unfortunately negligible as the numbers are fairly low; it would therefore not be responsible to draw conclusions from this data.
1. On average, how much does your organization or your typical client spend annually on online DM and traditional offline DM activity?
The first area of the survey looks at how much the respondents currently allocate to both online and offline marketing.
Almost two thirds (61%) of the respondents spend under $500k on online marketing, with the largest segment of respondents (37%) spending less than $100k. As the spend increases, the number of respondents investing those amounts in this type of marketing decreases only 11% of respondents declared spend of over $5m.
There is a relatively even spread of offline spend with almost 50% falling in the mid-tier spend brackets between $100k and $5m and a slight jump at the largest spending tier with almost a third (27%) of respondents spending over $5m. The NA market skews this high end slightly as almost one third of their total offline spend is in the $5m+ bracket.
Regionally, we can see that the proportion of respondents spending at the low end of online budgets escalates by region from NA through UK to Europe; only 30% of online marketing in NA falls in the low end of spend (under $100k) compared with almost 60% of European respondents.
