The majority of businesses plan to increase marketing spend in email marketing and social media in 2010, making them the top two areas of investment.

This is the finding of a global marketing trends survey last month by online solutions provider StrongMail among more than 1,000 business leaders. Signalling a positive economic outlook for 2010, the survey also found that 89 per cent of respondents plan to increase or maintain budgets in the new year.

Fifty per cent of polled businesses expect their customers to spend more in 2010 – with only a quarter predicting they will spend the same and just eight per cent of businesses believing their customers will spend less.

Forty-eight per cent of businesses are increasing overall marketing budgets in 2010, and email and social media marketing are the two leading areas of investment, at 69 and 59 per cent respectively. Search marketing comes in third at 42 per cent. Conversely, events and direct mail lead the pack in decreased spend at 44 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

Social media marketing is a clear focus for businesses, with 69 per cent of respondents planning to integrate it with their email marketing campaigns in 2010. However, of those who have already integrated the two channels, only 42 per cent are achieving a lift in campaign performance. Thirty-five per cent report no significant lift and another 23 per cent are unable to measure.  Respondents identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as awareness building (64%), customer loyalty and retention (49%) and expanded reach (46%).

Bill Wagner, executive vice-president of business operations at California-headquartered StrongMail, said: “As businesses are developing their marketing plans for 2010, this survey reveals a strong focus on high ROI channels like email and emerging ones like social media. While an unprecedented number of companies look to integrate email and social media in 2010, the data shows that companies need to adopt new tools and strategies to properly measure and monetise their efforts.”