Research published by The Chartered Institute of Marketing reports that Sales Promotion accounts for at least 13 per cent of UK marketing budgets – and the figure could be much higher.
According to the CIM’s Spring 2009 Marketing Trends Survey, when asked what proportion of their total marketing spend went on different areas, Sales Promotion came second, on 13.0 per cent, just after Public Relations on 13.2 per cent. Third was Field Marketing, on 12.9 per cent, then CRM on 12.7 per cent, Advertising (excluding online) on 12.4 per cent and Direct Mail on 11.8 per cent.
Annie Swift, chief executive of the ISP, points out: “It comes as no surprise that Sales Promotion gets so much of the UK marketing budget, particularly in the current economic situation. Sales Promotion is all about ‘do’ advertising, not ‘do nothing’ advertising – it is marketing content designed to change behaviour and, as such, can be delivered through almost any media channel.” So although Sales Promotion alone accounts for 13 per cent of UK marketers’ spend, many of the other categories listed also include significant sales promotion elements, she states.
Swift says: “Our members do not just do Sales Promotion: they are also active in Online, Field Marketing, CRM, Advertising, Direct Mail and Internal Marketing, to name just a few of the categories in the CIM survey.” The survey of more than 1,000 marketers was carried out for CIM by Ipsos Mori.