A new study called “Top Marketing Trends for 2008”,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.
A number of marketing concepts were covered but 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.
In regard to global issues, China is viewed as the region with the best future opportunity (52%); India follows (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.
A lot of companies are engaging in “knowledge process offshoring’ (KPO) which includes everything from customer data processing to more advanced marketing analytics.
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 favourite 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.
Source: Ken Rutkowski
