Worried marketers should seize opportunity, says CIM chief
Marketers in the Midlands are increasingly worried about the UK economy and their own job prospects, according to a new survey.
The latest Marketing Trends Survey from The Chartered Institute of Marketing, conducted by Ipsos MORI, found marketers based in the Midlands are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the performance of the UK economy over the coming year.
Nearly three quarters anticipated a recession in the next 12 months with only eight per cent believing such a fate can be avoided.
When asked about their own job prospects in the year ahead, 37 per cent of respondents were worried – the highest across the UK – although 45 per cent of marketers in the region said they were not worried.
Confidence in their own organisation’s prospects has also fallen dramatically in the last year.
Asked whether they thought business for their organisation would improve in the next 12 months, 33 per cent said they believed it would – a sharp drop from the 59 per cent who expected business to improve last Autumn. However, the fact that a third of marketers in the region still expect business for their organisation to improve in the next year, the highest figure across the UK, shows that considerable confidence remains among many marketers.
This is reflected in expectations about the size of the marketing function in the coming year.
Whilst 67 per cent of marketers in the region expect no change in size, a significant 20 per cent are increasing the number of marketing staff.
Commenting on the survey, David Thorp, director of research and information at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “Although marketers in the Midlands are increasingly pessimistic professional marketers should look to the opportunities an economic downturn brings, and trust in their ability to deliver.
“By creating real value for their organisations marketers can demonstrate how indispensable they are.”
