Loyalty gets support of FDs
According to a new survey by database marketing and consumer insight firm KDB, 84% of FDs across the UK believe that strengthening investment in marketing and consumer insight during the current downturn would benefit firms in the long run.
Matt Boot, chief analyst at KDB, says: “Finance directors do understand the historic importance of marketing through a recession. People often assume that those holding the corporate purse strings are totally against spending on marketing, but as this survey indicates, they are for it when the money is spent effectively.”
The survey of 1,000 finance directors, covering regions throughout the UK, various key industry sectors and firms of different sizes, was conducted for KDB by Lightspeed Research.
Respondents from big business were significantly more supportive of the idea of boosting investment in marketing and customer insight in the current economic climate than those from small business.
Every FD from a firm that employs 250-1,000 people, and 98% of those working for companies with more than 1,000 employees, supported the idea compared to 80% of those from businesses with 10 employees or fewer and 83% from operations with 11-50 employees.
Response rates also varied by geography. In London and the Midlands support was lower than the national average at 79% and 81% respectively,
FDs in the hotel and catering segment and media and marketing most strongly supported the notion of increasing marketing spend -- in both, 100% of respondents were in favour of increasing spend on marketing and customer analysis.
Other sectors in which support for the idea exceeded the national average included: banking, insurance and finance at 89%; business services at 98%; IT, communications and hi-tech at 93%; travel and transport at 90%; and utilities and telecommunications at 91%.
The weakest support for boosting investment in marketing and insight during a recession came from the retail sector with just 72% of respondents backing the idea.