Survey says: Nearly 43 percent of healthcare marketers plan to spend more in 2009

According to healthcare IT news and opinion blog HIStalk, out of the 67 healthcare marketers who participated in its recent survey about 2009 marketing/advertising spending, 42.6 percent anticipate an increase in their marketing/advertising budgets in 2009, as opposed to 19.1 percent who expect their budget to decrease. 38.3 percent expect their marketing/advertising budget in 2009 to be the same as it was in 2008.

This was a surprise to me, as I expected to hear that the majority were planning on making do with smaller budgets. Why? Because when economic times are tough, marketing is often the first budget to get cut.

The survey reports that half or more of the survey participants are planning to spend more on online marketing/advertising in 2009, This includes blogs, other websites and via email.

The biggest losers seem to be print advertising with 44.9 percent of the survey participants planning to spend less in 2008, followed by trade shows with 38.3 percent planning a decrease in spending.

Here are some of the details:

Blogs : 95.8 percent plan to spend more (50 percent) or the same (45.8 percent) on blogs, and only 4.2 percent plan to spend less.
Other Online Sites : 89.6 percent plan to spend more (50 percent) or the same (39.6 percent) on other online sites, and only 10.4 percent plan to spend less.
Email: 89.6 percent also plan to spend more (56.3 percent) or the same (33.3 percent) on email, with only 10.4 percent planning to spend less.
Direct Mail: 72.3 percent planned to spend the same (59.6 percent) or more (12.8 percent) on direct mail
Trade Shows: 61.7 percent planned to spend the same (38.3 percent) or more (23.4 percent) on trade shows, yet more than a third (38.3 percent) plan to spend less.
Print Magazines: 55.1 percent plan to spend the same (42.9 percent) or more (12.2 percent) on print magazines, yet 44.9 percent plan to spend less.

How do you think your 2009 marketing budget will compare to your 2008 budget?

Please participate in a quick, one-question survey. Click here or visit www.imninc.com/macmcintosh. Then scroll down to the survey at the bottom of the left column. Simply pick the answer that best describes your situation, then click “Submit” to see the survey results to date.

3 Comments • Add your comment...

Interesting..what percent of the 67 actually do the buying for advertising? What percent are influencers? What percent work for hospitals or manufacturers? Do you know if any of these questions were included in the demographic capture part of the survey or is it to be assumed all 67 are buyers?

Left by Ray on November 7th, 2008

Ray,

Here’s what I was told:

“…all were healthcare IT vendors (and I saw no duplicates from the same vendor, either).

I can’t say that they are the necessarily the folks doing the buying, but I did ask to have advertising and marketing folks respond.”

Additional data about the participants, such as their titles, their product/service categories or their companies isn’t available.

Left by Mac McIntosh on November 7th, 2008

[...] Survey Says: Nearly 43 percent of healthcare marketers plan to spend more in 2009Details of the survey were posted by Mac McIntosh, president of Mac McIntosh Incorporated, a sales and marketing consulting firm. While the survey is centered on healthcare marketing, healthcare is a huge growing industry and a glimpse into what some healthcare marketers are planning and spending in 2009 could provide some great insight into marketing strategies for any industry. It’s a great read and may show you how to apply their strategies into your own. Mac’s post also includes a one-question 2009 marketing budget survey which provides a comparison between 2008 and 2009 marketing budgets. [...]

Left by Inside Office » Blog Archive » Is Your Marketing Planning for 2009 Ready? on December 4th, 2008