Optimism grows among IT sector marketers

Things looking brighter: Technology and telecoms marketers are feeling more optimistic for 2010

The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest survey has uncovered optimism among marketers in the technology and telecoms sector that the UK economy is on the road to recovery.

According to the Institute's figures, which were conducted by MORI, 62 per cent of respondents believed the economy would improve over the next 12 months.

A further 70 per cent of technology and telecoms marketers are most likely to say that business for their organisation will improve in the next 12 months compared with other sectors. This compares to the overall average of 51 per cent, and is an improvement on a 40 per cent figure in the six-months-ago survey.

In addition, marketers in the sector are optimistic about their sales performance for the financial year, with the mean sales performance for technology and telecoms organisations rising from +0.6 per cent to +2.7 per cent. This is again an increase on the national average figure of +1.9 per cent.

David Thorp, director of research and professional development at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “2010 will certainly be a challenging year for technology and telecoms sector marketers, with the slow progress of the economic recovery, the UK general election and an ever-growing presence of digital and social media.

“However, it is good to see that marketers in these sectors have an improved positive outlook and that they are responding to customer needs by modifying their products and services. For now, marketers are wisely concentrating their hard-won budgets in the most effective activities, and still see the need to invest in training.”

Further results reveal that 62 per cent of marketers in the technology and telecoms sector feel that marketing is viewed as a "high priority" within their company’s business strategy. This is a drop on the 68 per cent figure recorded six months ago.

However, 55 per cent of respondents said they consider it to be "very" or " fairly" difficult to secure marketing budget and 71 per cent blame this on the current economic climate. About 32 per cent believe that marketing is bearing the brunt of cost-cutting measures in their organisations.

Interestingly, the technology and telecoms sector has the lowest average spend on marketing (excluding salaries) – with 5.6 per cent of turnover accounted for by their marketing spend, compared to the national average of 8.3 per cent.

Job security is in line with the national average, with 28 per cent revealing they are worried about losing their job in the next year. About 18 per cent of self-employed technology and telecoms marketers say they are worried about their business closing in the next 12 months.