The results of the survey could be seen as a further sign that marketers are getting better at securing buy-in and financial support from the C-suite.

What best describes your plans for your overall marketing budget in 2015?

Factors driving this trend

Increased connectivity means that consumers are more empowered with information than ever – from researching a product on their desktop at home to using a mobile device in-store as a virtual sales assistant.

For example, a recent Deloitte report found that digital devices are influencing 33% of in-store retail sales, equivalent to almost £100bn.

This has raised the profile of marketing departments, which are increasingly orchestrating consumer relationships – and CEOs are now looking to CMOs and marketing departments as a key growth drivers.

A good example of this is British Airways, which announced in January that it was splitting its marketing department to bring it closer to the airline’s commercial operations.

Marketers are investing in ways to cut through the clutter

At the same time, keeping customers switched on to brand messages remains a challenge. Connected consumers are dealing with more “clutter” than ever – and there are some fairly frightening statistics floating out on the web, ranging from 500 to 5,000 advertising messages a day. 

This has led marketers to rethink their digital strategy, replacing tried and trusted methods with more precise data and analytical insights on customer behaviour.

Increased importance of digital marketing technology

For example, according to the Marketing Budgets Report, 79% of companies are planning to increase their spending on digital marketing technology – an increase of 13% since 2014.

Technologies that marketers are particular focused on include A/B and multivariate testing (50% are planning to spend more in this area) as well as CRM (48%) and marketing analytics (42%).  

This is clearly an exciting time to work in marketing, where boardroom support and budgets are rising, and the increased ability to attract and retain customers means the influence of the marketer within businesses will only increase this year.

The Marketing Budgets 2015 Report looks at the extent to which companies are increasing their budgets across a range of channels and technologies, comparing online and offline budgets while also looking at the balance between acquisition and retention marketing.

Almost 600 companies participated in this research, which took the form of an online survey between December 2014 and January 2015.