MarketingSherpa’s year-end survey shows which tactics yielded the highest ROI and how marketers should adjust budget planning for 2009

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

During 2008 MarketingSherpa and Ad:Tech surveyed over 1,200 marketers to determine which online marketing tactics were used most often and how much money was spent on these various programs.  The results of the survey can help marketers adjust their budgets for 2009 to achieve the highest ROI for each program.

As seen in the chart above, email is the most commonly used tactic  by marketers and also ranks very high on ROI, as the budget required to successfully execute these programs is relatively small compared to other tactics.  The affordability of this particular program is likely the reason for 90% of marketers participating.  Over 50% of respondents report “great” ROI on paid search, more than any other tactic presented in the survey.  This is largely due to a marketer’s ability to track how many conversions are resulting from each dollar spent. 

After paid search, marketers reportedly spent the most on display ads, such as banners and buttons. This is very alarming because less than 15% of those surveyed indicated that this tactic was generating a good ROI.  With the economy forcing companies to cut back on spending, marketers may be shifting their dollars into more revenue generating tactics.

The chart below illustrates the importance of including search engine marketing programs in a marketing plan for 2009.  Paid search and search engine optimization rank among the top three highest ROI generators and are two of the most commonly used tactics. This chart also shows that poorly targeted online advertising, such as pop-ups and emails to rented list, yield a poor ROI.

The survey also prompted marketers to indicate what tactics they planned to invest in during 2009.  The benefit of paid search remains clear, as 57% reported increasing spending on this successful ROI generator.  Despite last year indicating a low ROI for display ads, 29% of marketers will continue to spend money on traditional online ads.  This is very surprising; considering one out of three respondents indicated that they deliver a poor ROI and only 13% said they were great.  Perhaps the stresses of an ailing economy will force marketers more than ever to truly focus on the programs that produce the highest ROI.