Tech CMOs Spending Smarter?

While most chief marketing officers say they plan to spend more money on marketing, or at least keep spending levels flat, CMOs in technology companies are cutting marketing spend.

According to a survey of over 650 CMOs conducted by the 4,000-member Chief Marketing Officer Council, 62% of marketing executives expect to either increase or maintain spending levels; in contrast, 55% of CMOs at technology companies expect to cut their marketing budgets in 2009.

A look under the surface, however, reveals that technology vendors are cutting spending by switching from traditional outlets like print, television and outdoor media, and are also overhauling their marketing goals.

Liz Miller, vice president of programs and operations at the CMO Council, told me that technology companies are leading the way in "looking to redirect to online, direct and social media" at the expense of more traditional media.

At the same time, technology companies have moved away from measuring customer satisfaction and put a great deal more stock on generating advocacy among customers.

"Tech marketers aren't so fanatical about 'what does my logo look like,'" she said.

According to Miller, marketing executives in technlogy companies are more focused on the sales pipeline and sales performance than marketers in other industries. Thus, 66% of technology marketers cited realignment to support sales as their main accomplishment of 2008, compared with 51% for the overall group.

"In tech, we've seen an earlier adoption of this sense that the lead is my most valuable commodity, so how do we actually embrace customers in co-innovating," she added.