More than ever the recession is forcing marketers to sharpen their focus on tactics that are cost-effective and contribute to the bottom line, and many of them are looking to the Internet to get the job done.
“Tight budgets are driving companies’ efforts to increase ROI,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Getting and Keeping Customers: Search and E-Mail Tactics. “In turn, the greater emphasis on ROI adds extra pressure to get new customers and to keep existing ones.”
In a MarketingProfs survey, which looked specifically at the impact of the economic crisis, all of the respondents cited some form of customer acquisition or retention as their most important marketing objective.
When asked about their most important advertising goals for 2009 in a survey by Datran Media, 63% of marketers said gaining new customers; 44% said increased customer retention.
Similarly, 62% of the B2B marketers surveyed by BtoB magazine said their primary marketing goal for 2009 was customer acquisition, followed by 21% who said customer retention.
“For online marketers, search is the most effective tactic for customer acquisition,” says Mr. Hallerman, “and e-mail is the most effective for customer retention.”
To find out more about why marketers are switching to the two online tactics, download the new eMarketer report, Getting and Keeping Customers: Search and E-Mail Tactics.