The advertising market is growing.

The advertising economy is better than its reputation: in 2014, despite a tense economic situation and many a pessimistic forecast, companies' advertising spending grew by a total of 7 percent to just under EUR 6.4 billion.

Creativity in demand Good news for agencies: The number of companies consulting creative agencies is on the rise. Self-knitted is usually cheaper, but not always better. 

Diversity in demand. 

All channels benefited from the increase in advertising spending. Even in the case of individual instruments such as outdoor advertising, for which spending declined overall, the number of companies using this instrument increased. Even if budgets are cut for individual forms of advertising, companies want to take advantage of the variety of advertising options as much as possible.

It's the occasion that counts Long-term planning is something for textbooks and seminars, but practice looks different: In half of all companies, advertising expenditures are made on an occasion-related basis, without planning budgets.

The breadth lives Is it uncertainty and the grip on the tried and true, is it a lack of customer data? Contrary to their own expectations, more companies are using unaddressed advertising mailings, while fewer are using addressed direct mailings - although total spend for both instruments increased.

Surprisingly, although the marketing experts surveyed had expected a significant decline in traditional advertising and printed customer magazines, these advertising channels also saw growth. After many an online experience and disappointment, many companies are evidently returning to tried and tested forms of advertising.

Small companies seek dialog, large ones the masses It's all about size: Small and medium-sized companies have greatly reduced spending on traditional advertising and are instead pushing dialog marketing on paper such as catalogs and customer magazines. Large companies, on the other hand, rely primarily on TV commercials and newspaper ads.

Customer loyalty counts. 

Databases are still on the rise. Eight out of ten companies now have a corresponding system. Tourism and service providers in particular have invested heavily here. The number of companies with their own customer loyalty programs also continues to rise.

Tourism steps on the gas Although retail is still by far the biggest advertiser in absolute terms, the strongest growth rates in advertising investment are in the tourism industry.

Homepage ticked off.

Companies have completed their to-do list when it comes to their homepage: nearly 100 percent of companies have their own homepage. The rate is worst among small businesses. However, due to new tools such as moving images and response elements, as well as the establishment or expansion of online stores, expenditure on websites is increasing.

 

 

Source: Austrian Post Dialog Marketing Report 2015