Good news at last for the print industry!
According to a recent survey ¼ of UK businesses are planning to increase spend on print over networking and website optimisation
• Companies intend to employ more marketing tools in the tussle for market share
• The resurgence of tangible marketing media
• Has digital-only branding had its day?
November 2008: The latest business spending survey, from research company Shape the Future, highlights that nearly a quarter (23.9 percent) of UK businesses intend to increase spending on print in the next twelve months. Interestingly, this is more than plans to increase resources on networking (21.2 percent) and website optimisation (19.7 percent). Only 18.6 percent of the companies surveyed were planning to decrease spending on print.
“These figures are also good news for the design industry as the two services go hand in hand” said Peter Martin , managing director at Shape the Future.
Almost a fifth of companies are planning to increase spending on direct marketing campaigns over the next twelve months. Perhaps this is because printed material can be put into the hands of prospective customers to keep and refer to time and time again, rather than just email which can be so easily deleted.
Lisa Garner , from design company Itonic, said: “We've seen an increase in businesses wanting to reach out personally to customers and there is clearly no substitute for traditional media in order to do it. What's interesting is the return to tangibility. A quality piece of marketing material can speak volumes. It also tends to hang around for longer.”
Those more likely to increase their print spend were business services companies. Property services were likely to decrease spending as were retailers and wholesalers . More businesses in the South East were likely to be reducing their marketing budgets compared to the rest of the country (20.3 percent maintaining or increasing were in the South East, compared to 25.3 percent of all businesses surveyed).
Other interesting highlights of note include: 36.4 percent of companies plan to increase their marketing budgets in the next 12 months; 54.7 percent plan no change or weren't sure, while only 9 percent are looking to reduce marketing spend.
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Notes to editor:
About the Shape the Future survey
• Conducted between 23 September and 4 October 2008
• Sample of 1,492 businesses across the UK
• The survey was conducted online using Shape the Future's proprietary software and systems
About Shape the Future
http://www.shape-the-future.com
Established in 2005, Shape the Future is a full service research company that delivers insight to businesses across the UK and overseas. Clients include businesses from start ups to established blue chip; business to business and consumer companies, as well as government and educational organisations.
It specialises in high speed research and as well as bespoke surveys, its instant online surveys will let you find out why you're not winning more business, how to make your website more effective, how to spend your marketing budget more effectively or what your customers really think. Click here for more information.
Editorial contact:
Georgina Firth, Brainstormhour
