• by Tanya Gazdik , April 1, 2013

Marketers are continuing to employ cost savings and reductions, according to the 2013 Association of National Advertisers Recession Survey.

The outlook indicates a “new normal” for marketing budgets, which have been constrained by the faltering economy of the last several years.

A vast majority of marketers (82%) continue to push for reductions, according to the seventh edition of the survey. Two-thirds of the 82% plan to reduce their marketing budgets by up to 10% this year, which is comparable to 2012.

This is somewhat more favorable than the low point of the recession in 2009, where nearly two-thirds (62%) said they planned to reduce budgets by 11% or more.

The industry can expect to see continued pressure on budgets in coming years, despite improvements to the economy. While 44% of marketers saw their budgets decrease over the past six months, more than half (56%) believe their budgets will stay the same over the next six months.

“The ‘new normal’ for marketers is an environment that challenges brands to grow earnings through improved marketing effectiveness and increased spending efficiencies to cut costs,” said Bob Liodice, ANA’s president and CEO, in a release. “Companies expect technology, expanding media platforms and better decision making to better enable marketers to pursue earnings growth objectives.” 

Marketers are continuing to challenge their agencies to lower costs. However, only 15% plan to decrease agency compensation. This is a significant decrease from 2009 when 56% of marketers responded this way.

Marketers will focus on other means to lower costs and expenditures, including reductions on travel (58%), internal agency expenses (55%), advertising campaign media budgets (46%) and new projects (44%).

The study marks the seventh occasion the ANA polled its members to investigate the fiscal focus of the marketing industry post-recession. This study was fielded online in January 2013. Respondents included 120 client-side marketers. 

"A fistful of dollars photo from Shutterstock"