Public Sector Prepared To Invest In Marketing

20 June 2007

• Public sector marketing budgets healthy
• Public sector and charity marketers most likely to be planning Olympic marketing

 A new survey conducted by The Chartered Institute of Marketing has found that public sector organisations are among the biggest spenders on marketing. While perhaps not surprisingly the retail and leisure sector spend the most on marketing, dedicating 7.4% of turnover to the activity, public sector marketers spend about 6.4% of total budget. This figure is comparable to budgets in manufacturing (6.3%) or financial services (6.9%), and significantly higher than technology (4.5%).

Employment prospects for marketers in the public sector are similar to those for marketers across all sectors. Just under a third (31%) of public sector marketing departments are planning to take on more staff, while 10% are planning cut-backs on staff numbers.  

However this latest survey, completed for The Institute by Ipsos MORI, reveals that marketing is regarded as a high priority in only half of public sector organisations. The study showed that while over a third (67%) of marketers in retail, distribution and leisure and a similar number (64%) in financial services believed that marketing was a high priority issue within their organisation, this figure falls to 51% among marketers in the public sector.

Public sector marketers do not believe that theirs is a young person’s profession, and just 7% agreed with the statement that marketers under 35 have more to offer the profession than their older colleagues, compared to 13% in retail, distribution and leisure and the same number in technology. 

Marketers working in the public sector were also the most inclined to be concerned about the pace of technological change in their profession. While 63% of marketers in retail and leisure believed that technologies help marketers to obtain and store information about customers, this figure stands at 72% within the public sector.

Public sector and charity marketers were among the most likely to be planning some form of marketing activity connected to the London Olympic Games. Nearly three quarters (70%) said they were likely to undertake a marketing campaign themed around the Games, compared with 59% in financial services and 54% in manufacturing and engineering.

Commenting on the results of the study Geoff Hurst, marketing director of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: ‘Marketing is an essential function for organisations in all sectors, and its importance is not confined to the commercial organisation. Organisations with professional marketing functions will be those that deliver most to the communities they serve.’