Have you ever wanted to get inside another marketer’s head? That is exactly what researchers from Anderson Analytics set out to do.

At a moment when the marketing environment may more difficult than at any time in history, they surveyed over 600 members of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) to identify the “Top Marketing Trends for 2008.”

“Senior marketers are facing an increasingly complex world with new technologies and new market segments rising to the fore,” said Chandra Chaterji, a member of the MENG Board of Directors.

As things get more complex, marketers are returning to basics. When asked what the main themes they were concentrating on were, marketing basics, SEO and personalization topped the list.

When asked what was the most important demographic to target, marketing executives said the baby boomers (88%), closely followed by Gen Xers and Hispanics.

Executives felt the biggest future opportunity was in China, followed by India.

“This finding is not surprising,” said Tom Anderson of Anderson Analytics “Many companies are engaging in ‘knowledge process offshoring’ (KPO) which includes everything from customer data processing to more advanced marketing analytics.”

To see what was influencing marketers’ thinking now, they were asked what books they were reading. Good to Great was the book most recently read by most marketing executives, followed the The World Is Flat and Blink!.

Seth Godin was the marketing guru cited by the executives as most being important today, with Steve Jobs in second place and the late Peter Drucker in third.

To learn more about what marketers are thinking right now—this holiday season—read the eMarketer Online Holiday Shopping report.