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Stamford, CT - November 27, 2007—The
Marketing Executives Networking Group, an almost 1700 member
organization of leading marketers who are at a VP-level or
above in their organizations, today issued the results of
its first annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2008.
The survey of MENG members, conducted by Anderson Analytics,
focused on top marketing concepts, buzz words, global areas
of opportunity, targeted customer demographics, as well as
the books that marketers look to for inspiration and growth
opportunity.
While the marketers weighed in on many marketing concepts
a few key areas emerged. Marketing basics (60% “Very
Important”) which include specific concepts such as
customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand
loyalty and ROI were of greatest interest. Interestingly,
Search Engine Optimization (42%) had relatively wide appeal,
and cut across marketers in all fields. “Green Marketing”
(32%) was another important emerging concept and it was identified
as the trendiest marketing buzzword.
“Senior marketers are facing an increasingly complex
world with new technologies and new market segments rising
to the fore” said Chandra Chaterji, a member of the
MENG Board of Directors.
In regard to Global Issues, China is viewed as the region
with the best future opportunity (52%); India is a distant
second (20%). Few marketers saw other regions such as Eastern
Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Brazil, Russia, and
Mexico, as comparable opportunities. In terms of another important
global issue, Out-Sourcing/Off-Shoring, the majority of marketers
(77%) reported that their companies do not off-shore any part
of the marketing function. Half of senior marketers are not
in favor of off-shoring any part of the marketing function,
while just under a quarter view it favorably.
“This finding is not surprising” said Tom H.
C. Anderson, Founder & Managing partner of Anderson Analytics
“off shoring is not just limited to customer telephone
call centers any more. A lot of companies are engaging in
‘knowledge process offshoring’ (KPO) which includes
everything from customer data processing to more advanced
marketing analytics. For instance in my specific area of marketing,
market research, almost all of the larger companies are trying
their hand at offshoring while trying to keep it as quiet
as possible”
When asked about the most important customer demographics
senior marketing executives rank Baby Boomers highest with
88% ranking them as either very important or somewhat important.
What may be surprising is the fact that Gen X (86%), Hispanics
(86%), Women (85%) and Gen Y (84%) are catching up to Boomers
as customer targets.
Senior-level Marketing Executives read avidly to stay abreast
of information and gain insights for their business. The most
popular books are not necessarily the most recently published
given that Good to Great, The World is Flat,
and Blink were the top three most recently read books.
In terms of all time favorite business book ever read, three
in five executives were eager to make a recommendation to
their fellow marketers. Topping the list were: Good to
Great, Positioning, and 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People.
Richard Guha, Chairman of MENG, in announcing this study,
said, “this is the first of a series of studies by MENG
which will make a major contribution to the growing effectiveness
of marketing.”
The Marketing Trends Survey was fielded by Anderson Analytics
among current MENG members between October 19 and November
20 of 2007. Anderson Analytics used text mining software to
code open-ended/free form text answers to questions in order
to truly understand what issues were top-of-mind among the
senior executives. The 607 responses yield overall statistics
with a confidence interval of +/-3.98% at the 95% confidence
level.
About the Marketing Executives Networking Group
The Marketing Executive Networking Group (MENG) is the premier
organization of senior level marketing professionals who have
reached at least the VP level in their organization. This
1,600+ member not-for-profit networking community fosters
career and personal success by sharing information and relationships
for mutual assistance across virtually all industries and
marketing specialties. Eighty four percent of the members
have Fortune 500 experience and 70% have earned graduate degrees,
the majority of which are from top-20 Business Schools. To
learn more go to www.MENGonline.com.
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