The international Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest Marketing Trends Survey has revealed that many marketers believe Customer Relationship Management delivers the best return on investment . . . with advertising yielding the worst.

The survey, conducted for the institute by Ipsos MORI earlier this year, shows a quarter of marketers (24%) think the best ROI is delivered by CRM activities, particularly among those working in financial services and other services firms (31%) and those in the technology and telecoms sectors (30%). Second highest in delivering good ROI, with half the number of mentions (12%), is public relations.

Advertising, excluding online, is most widely seen as delivering the worst ROI with nearly a quarter (23%) of marketers rating it at the bottom. The figure is higher among those working for technology and telecom companies (38%). Second worst performance is for sponsorship with one in nine (11%) believing it delivers poor ROI.

Commenting on the findings, David Thorp, director of research and professional development at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “As belts tighten it is clear that marketing spend on advertising is under pressure, but it’s refreshing to see that by investing in ‘knowing your customer’, through CRM systems, marketers are able to wisely concentrate their spend in the most effective activities and, as we move into 2010, I’m convinced this more professional approach will stand them in good stead when the economy recovers.”