• 70% of companies anticipate an increase in sales compared to 2009.
• Marketing budgets are recovering after a down year in 2009, with 31% reporting an increase in their marketing budget this year.
• 74% stated that customer acquisition or lead generation is their primary marketing goal. These have been the top two marketing goals for the past three years.
• The top three marketing challenges in 2010 are having too few resources, not enough quality leads and a need to improve marketing ROI.
• Three of the top four sources of leads are online channels, including the company Web site, e-mail marketing and search engine optimization.
• 68% of companies plan to increase spending on social media in 2010. LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular social media applications currently being used.
• 47% will spend more than one-third of their marketing budget online, and the majority (51%) will invest more in online marketing in 2010 than they did in 2009.

Planning your marketing strategy for next year? Check out this article by Global Spec’s Marketing Maven on planning for 2011. Tribute customers, join our Tribute and TrulinX groups on LinkedIn and look for Tribute, Inc. soon on Facebook!