6,000 Tech Marketing Jobs Will Be Lost in 2009

­IT vendor marketing budgets will decline by 8.3% for the full year 2009, the first decrease in year-on-year marketing spend since the dot-com bust of 2001-2002, reports the IDC CMO Advisory Practice. IDC analysts are also observing that many marketing executives are facing organizational pressure during 2009, with more than 70% of senior marketers indicating that their marketing departments are experiencing "significant organizational change".

IDC projects that 6,000 tech marketing jobs will be lost by the end of 2009.

Richard Vancil, vice president of IDC's Executive Advisory Group noted some key trends within the tech marketing community. "Most marketing departments remain adequately funded - even with these recession-led budget cuts. The problem is, many funds and activities aren't in the right place. It's our observation that the best CMOs and marketing leaders are still making progress this year, and they are doing so through re-direction and re-deployment of existing budgets. They are moving money from product-line marketing to streamlined thematic campaigns. They are creating more shared services that remove redundancy in complex marketing organizations. And this year, Sales Enablement has been a major trend that can reduce expenses while boosting productivity."

The 2009 recession is also causing significant organizational pressure on tech marketing and sales organizations.

Vancil noted, "The root cause of organizational change is the continued dysfunction between marketing and sales; where money is wasted and processes are sloppy. And so, in 2009, at many companies, we are seeing the creation of a more unified sales and marketing organization. In some cases, global marketing and sales are now organizationally united under one executive with the title of 'Chief Sales and Marketing Officer' or 'SVP of WW Field Operations.' This is a cause for concern for some CMOs who may be losing power, because those big areas of budget savings and impact that we suggest be identified and executed, are really only available when the CMO has influence over all marketing: corporate, product , and field."

Posted to the site on 16th September 2009