Recession 'should refocus marketing strategies'

The recession should result in businesses refining their marketing campaigns to better suit the new needs of consumers, an expert has said.

While consumers are still making purchases during the downturn, they are doing so differently to before the recession, meaning that companies' marketing strategies need to evolve to fit this new trend, Ray Jones of the Chartered Institute of Marketing told the Technology for Marketing & Advertising event last week.

He said: "Marketers have to adapt to current market trends and if technology can help that in some way then all the better.

"This is a time for innovative thinking and for professional marketers to take advantage of the current situation."

Despite the recession affecting business spending in other areas, expenditure on online marketing is expected to rise by ten per cent across Europe this year, according to Forrester Research.

Search marketing and rich media ads will do particularly well in 2009, the report suggested.