Three in five companies plan to spend more of their marketing budgets on email, web design and data quality efforts in 2005, and more than half will spend more on search engine marketing, according to a new survey study - "2005 Executive Report: Target Marketing Priorities Analysis" - by CSO Insights for direct marketing services firm Harte-Hanks, DM News reports. The report also finds that nearly three out of four companies this year are planning more investments in database management.
"Database and interactive marketing lead all categories in new marketing investments," Richard Hochhauser, president/CEO of Harte-Hanks said in a statement. "Websites and email, in particular, really show strength. Yet struggles with data quality and data management remain pervasive."
Some 43 percent of the respondents have a regular or constant program to support personalization and one-to-one marketing. However, more than a third rate their database management as "poor" or "very poor." Only 12 percent rate themselves as "very good." Also, 53 percent of the respondents believe their customer data to be at least 75 percent accurate, and 40 percent believe that less than half their prospect data are correct.
