New Blackfriars report shows weak 2007 marketing outlook

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We've finally posted all the collateral information for our first 2007 marketing report, so now I can talk about it. Those who would prefer a more traditional press release style announcement can see that here.

The short version: Marketing budgets for 2007 have fallen off a cliff. For the first time since we started tracking marketing budgets, attitudes and spending in 2004, the average budget for the first quarter is below what it was in 2003. Not only is it below, but it is more than 40% below. Ouch.

Of particular note in the data is the fact that businesses appear to be in a flight to the relative safety of offline marketing techniques like TV advertising, direct mail, and corporate and industry events. This is in marked contrast to the way that 2006 started out, which was with a rush to online marketing of all types. Here's what the marketing allocation for Q4 2006 looked like:


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The report has lots more detail included overall allocations for 2007, marketing as a percentage of revenue, breakdowns by B2B, B2C, and nonprofit organizations. Given the slowing economy, we think this data is essential for anyone who is making marketing decisions today; after all, the best way to win in marketing is to know what your competitors are doing, and this report at least gives you benchmarks to compare your company's spending against. We hope lots of you will go buy a copy, if not from us, then from our distributors Marketresearch.com, ResearchandMarkets.com, Marketsensus.com, Sourcemedia.com, and others.

One final pitch: if you're a previous Blackfriars customer or on our mailing list, keep an eye out for an email today detailing how you can get your Blackfriars customer discount on our latest report.

Technorati Tags: Attitudes, Market research, Marketing, Budgets, Blackfriars, Advertising, Spending, Direct email, Direct mail, Events