Marketers moving budgets online

Why are so many marketers moving money from traditional media into their online budgets? Perhaps, says Goldstein Group Communications' (GGC) president, Joel Goldstein, because of increased pressure for campaign accountability and measurability in the coming year.

"The sense of urgency to move to online marketing has been felt by leading marketing organizations for some time now, but the extent to which budgets have been re- defined is dramatic," said Goldstein in an announcement this week.

Lead quality might also be another reason for the shift towards online spending. Respondents to the survey, comprising marketing executives and top management among North America electronic manufacturers and b-to-b executives, said the "best" source for leads is their website (24%), followed by search engines (19%).

"In this environment, many budget choices in 2009 will be based on what's 'nice to have' versus what we 'have to have.' Programs that are proven to generate the highest quality leads, and that are easiest to track to a lead or sales conversion, will end up as the winners," said Goldstein.

Earlier this year a survey by Rackspace found that 61% of CMOs surveyed in the U.K. said their biggest spend would be on online activity, at the expense of spending on traditional marketing channels.

Tags: accountability, digital, marketing budgets, online, online marketing, search engine marketing, web development, webcasts