Marketing gloom on Britain's economic prospects

Marketing professionals in the Midlands are more gloomy about the country's economic prospects than their national counterparts, a survey has revealed.

And the study from the Chartered Institute of Marketing shows confidence in the region for the prospects of their own businesses has dropped.

According to the survey, 11 per cent of marketers in the region believe the country's economic prospects will improve over the next 12 months - while the national figure stands at 19 per cent.

In the Midlands, 47 per cent thought their own businesses had brighter prospects over the next 12 months, compared with a more optimistic national figure of 54 per cent.

However, the prospects figure in the region was six per cent down on a survey in September 2005, while there was no change in the UK total.

Despite the fall in positive expectations among Midlands marketers about their company's business, the mean anticipated sales performance figures were slightly higher.

The average expected sales growth is now +7.1 per cent compared to +6.5 per cent in September 2005.

However, concerns remained among a significant minority about achieving their sales plans.

Almost one-third (31 per cent) of marketers surveyed in the Midlands consider their sales plan to be "very challenging".

Just over six in ten (63 per cent) of marketers in the Midlands say that marketing is viewed as a "high priority" within their company's business strategy, which is slightly higher than the overall UK figure (59 per cent).

In line with the rest of the UK, about three-fifths (59 per cent) of Midlands companies have marketing functions on their board.

Strategic responsibility for marketing in the Midlands lies mainly with the CEO/MD/owner (46 per cent), marketing director (28 per cent) or marketing manager (20 per cent). But actually securing marketing budget is just as hard for marketers in the Midlands as it is elsewhere in the UK.

Half of Midlands marketers say that securing marketing funding is "very" or "fairly" difficult, mirroring the views of UK companies as a whole.