Just over two-thirds (71%) of businesses are planning to increase their spend on digital marketing technology this year, down marginally from 74% in 2012.
In comparison, just 3% of companies plan to decrease the amount spent on digital technology.
The findings come from the new Econsultancy/Responsys Marketing Budgets 2013 Report, which looks in detail at how companies are allocating their online and offline marketing budgets in 2013.
More than 800 companies, mainly from the UK, participated in this research, which took the form of an online survey between December 2012 and January 2013.
One of the most frequently quoted predictions from 2012 was Gartner’s belief that, by 2017, CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs, and these findings appear to back that up.
What best describes your plans for digital marketing technology spending in 2013?
Looking at how the increase in spending will take shape, the most common area for investment will be business and web analytics (46%), CRM (45%) and content management systems (41%).
The prominence of analytics and CRM systems suggests that collating and managing data is still one of the key challenges for businesses.
Other popular areas for investment include social media management systems (38%), email platforms (38%) and paid search/bid management (35%).
In the year-on-year comparison, there has been a significant decline in the proportion of organisations who plan to increase investment in online reputation monitoring, from 27% in 2012 to 20% this year.
On which types of digital marketing technology will you be increasing investment in 2013?
In line with the increased investment in digital technologies, businesses are also planning to recruit more digital marketers in 2013.
Exactly half (50%) of client-side respondents said they plan to add more people to their digital marketing teams this year, down from 56% in 2012.
Interestingly, agencies paint a very different picture, with 73% of respondents stating that their clients are planning to recruit more people into their digital teams, up from 67% last year.
Reader comments (4)
12:01PM on 11th February 2013
Well, it would want to because Digital Marketing will only cost more in 2013. A number of factors are going to make it more costly.
In general, companies will expand into wider marketing programmes: SEO, PPC, Content, Social, Video. The cost of this will cause more investment, as will the cost of better expertise and sadly, the cost of hiring the wrong people never dissappears.
Firstly, in search, PPC will go up as greater demand for clicks goes up, despite a downturn in 2012.
Secondly, with Panda and Penguin, demand for Good SEO will rise.
Thirdly, with so many inexperienced SEO's and also, now, social marketers - costs of making mistakes will add to the costs of digital marketing.
Prediction: Larger agencies getting larger fees.
12:45PM on 11th February 2013
Will not be a great surprise to many but emphasises that every business plan should address this area in some detail..... with the help of good agency input and research.
Jonathan Hunt
Lead Consultant
The Business Plan Team
Blog www.thebusinessplanteam.blogspot.com
Twitter www.twitter.com/TheBusPlanTeam
Web www.thebusinessplanteam.co.uk
5:12PM on 11th February 2013
Why was my comment from before deleted?
Senior reporter at Econsultancy
5:14PM on 11th February 2013
@David, apologies, we have an overactive spam filter. I think putting 'SEO' in your name probably didn't help.
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