Post Recession: The Shift to Grass Roots Marketing

We've all known it for a while, but now a study by the Association of National Advertisers clarifies the point: as the country slowly claws its way out of recession, marketing budgets will be primarily focused on high-ROI efforts including Social Media, Public Relations, grass roots word-of-mouth campaigns and direct customer education, rather than traditional print advertising.

According to the survey, 47% of marketers studied are planning "pricing deals" as the initiative most likely to be increased in the current economic environment. 26% say social networking and word of mouth activities are currently most important, while 23% say public relations efforts.

Other info:

68% say media budgets will be increased
41% will increase social networking/word-of-mouth
40% will increase budgets for innovation and testing/learning
73% of respondents said they would ideally implement these increased marketing activities three to six months before the recession ends, and an additional 16% as soon as it ends.

From a quote on Mediapost:

Roger Adams, Chair of the ANA Brand Management Committee, notes that "Marketers have increased their emphasis on gauging consumer sentiment and brand health trends... with the proliferation of instant feedback... marketers can... quickly gauge brand equity, health and signs of deterioration."

Finally, in the report summation, it is noted that traditional media channels have declined in importance since the first survey was conducted in February 2007:

Television (down to 64% from 80%)
Magazines (down to 51% from 67%)
Radio (down to 30% from 36%)
Outdoor (down to 26% from 35%)
Newspapers (down to 19% from 36%)