• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 2, 2008

Marketing Execs Say Basics Are Most Important in 2008

According to the first annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2008 of 1700 MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) members, conducted by Anderson Analytics, key areas for 2008 are found to be:

• Marketing basics (60% "Very Important") which include specific concepts such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand loyalty and ROI were of greatest interest.
• 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.

Chandra Chaterji, a member of the MENG Board of Directors, says "Senior marketers are facing an increasingly complex world with new technologies and new market segments rising to the fore."

On Global Issues, 52% viewed China as the region with the best future opportunity, with India is a distant second at 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, 77% of marketers reported that their companies do not off-shore any part of the marketing function. However, Tom H. C. Anderson, Founder & Managing partner of Anderson Analytics, notes that "almost all of the larger companies are trying their hand at offshoring (market research) while trying to keep it as quiet as possible."

Vis-a-vis the most important customer demographics, senior marketing executives rank Baby Boomers highest with 88% ranking them as either very important or somewhat important. Surprising is the fact that Gen X (86%), Hispanics (86%), Women (85%) and Gen Y (84%) are catching up to Boomers as customer targets.

Good to Great, The World is Flat, and Blink were the top three most recently read books by senior-level marketing executives to stay abreast of information and gain insights for their business. In terms of all time favorite business book ever read, 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."

 To read the complete PDF report, please visit Anderson Analytics here.