Are you budgeting for innovation?

Every marketer we know wants to be innovative in their efforts to build brands and generate demand for products and services. But how many actually fund and plan innovation as part of their annual marketing budgets? Not many, if a recent Forrester Report is accurate.

• Only 11% of the 45 marketing executives interviewed said their companies have a formal budget for experimentation.
• Only 12% have a committed program to develop innovation leaders in their organization.
• 38% of the participants said they look outside of their companies for innovation.
• While 95% believe their innovations are paying off, only 27% actively review the results of those programs.

Here are my conclusions from the study:

• The inability or unwillingness to formally fund marketing innovation is holding marketers back from employing new digital tools and channels.
• Budgets are not being used to develop innovative internal marketing processes.
• Many leaders maintain an internal focus, and do not keep up with external marketing trends and advancements that offer innovation opportunities.
• Short-term financial measurement is inhibiting long-term investment in marketing experimentation.
• Many marketers are not employing analytics to evaluate the success of their innovation efforts.

Best-practice companies such as Coca-Cola, 7-Eleven, and Nestle are setting aside up to 10% of their budgets for exploring innovation and next-generation marketing ideas. Are you thinking about funding innovation in next year’s marketing plan?

E-mail me at rwhitmyre@tizinc.com for a copy of the study.