The renaissance of the catalog is continuing, online marketing is also gaining ground, and dialog with the customer is becoming more important overall: these are the central statements of the advertising and marketing managers of Austrian companies for the future use of the various advertising channels.

The Internet continues to catch up as an advertising channel. That is the clear opinion of the advertising and marketing managers of the 500 Austrian companies surveyed when it comes to advertising spending in 2015. 22 percent say they will invest more in customer dialog via the web, and not even one in ten intends to reduce spending in this segment (see chart on p. 43). Starting from a lower level - currently, only 8 percent of all advertising spend goes to the Internet - online dialog marketing is likely to be the growth emperor again this year. The companies' forecast was similarly clear last year.

However, online growth is based less on spectacular new tools and new ways of contacting customers, and more on further improving the company's own homepage. Every fourth respondent wants to invest in a new or improved homepage. At the same time, the number of ardent Internet fans has dropped. Last year, eight out of ten advertising and marketing managers were still convinced that the Internet was particularly important for customer dialog; this year, the figure is only seven out of ten. Enthusiasm for marketing activities with an event character, which overall is the second-largest slice of the advertising pie after traditional advertising, has tended to decline. Although the brakemen and the accelerators are evenly balanced, 21 percent of companies wanted to spend more on this area last year, but only 14 percent are doing so this year. The increased reliance on tried-and-tested advertising channels is also reflected in the estimates of spending on traditional advertising. Here, donors and savers have moved closer together. 

While the proportion of marketing managers who want to invest more in traditional media has risen significantly from 9 to 14 percent, the number of skeptics has increased only slightly. These come primarily from industry and manufacturing: almost one in three companies in this sector wants to make savings in the classic sector. The main reasons are general budget cuts, but also a lack of success. Catalogs continue to gain ground The picture is more varied in dialog marketing print. Here, more is to be invested in catalogs in particular, while declines are expected for inserts in print media and for unaddressed advertising mail - although it was precisely these widely distributed mailings that were among the winners last year, with a doubling of users and rising total donations.

What the survey clearly confirms: Dialog with the customer is not only important, it is becoming even more important. 57 percent of respondents are convinced that dialog marketing will become increasingly important. This assessment has risen sharply, especially among large companies with 250 or more employees; two out of three companies in this category emphasize the importance of dialog marketing. These companies see a strong increase especially in addressing customers by name. Customer dialog becomes more important A detailed look at the individual advertising channels confirms last year's overall trend: direct dialog with customers is becoming more important. For example, one in three companies wants to spend more on paid social media advertising and search engine marketing. TV advertising, on the other hand, which only goes in one direction, is cut overall. Large companies are particularly keen to increase their online activities, as they are obviously not taking advantage of the opportunities available to them, or are still underutilizing them. Among the industries, tourism, already one of the drivers last year, has the most ambitious plans this year as well: just under a third of the businesses want to expand their online activities. What is also increasing: Companies' willingness to use multiple advertising channels. For example, the number of those who consider all dialog channels important has almost doubled. This shows: Trial and error, gaining experience, and readjustment are not only permitted, but even encouraged.

 

- 57 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS ARE CONVINCED OF THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF DIALOG MARKETING
- ONE IN FOUR COMPANIES WANTS TO INVEST MORE IN ITS HOMEPAGE
- INTERNET, E-MAIL AND MAIL (DIALOG MARKETING PRINT) ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT DIALOG CHANNELS