The Marketing Trends, Spends and Forecasts report, which surveyed more than 153 marketers from UK brands and agencies to understand their priorities, budget allocation and challenges in 2015, also highlighted that almost half (45%) were likely to invest in events as part of their marketing strategies.
The report outlined that events continue to be an effective way to deliver a message to a captive audience, but they must be underpinned by media partnerships, targeted e-marketing, social features and strong content to be persuasive and successful.
According to the results, companies with a revenue of £20m and over are only assigning an average of 0-5% of their revenue on their marketing budget, with budgets most likely to be spent on events (45%) as well as websites (64%).
The report said: "Events are still an effective way to deliver information through demos and speakers and an opportunity to impress if done properly. This takes serious investment thought: venue, speakers, media sponsors, content, social, giveaways and even catering.
"If a full event is excessive then exhibiting at an industry event is another great way to raise brand awareness or demo new products."
The results found that top sectors spending more than 8% of their revenue on marketing are publishing and media, followed by confectionary, educational and vocational, household supplies and pharmaceuticals.
Customer experience, lead generation and content marketing were cited as the main priorities for marketers in 2015. Almost half (48%) of marketers are investing in automation and customer relationship management to enhance lead generation and customer experience.
Content is still at the forefront of marketers minds for this year, with 80% of B2B and B2C contacts investing heavily in their content marketing programme.
Tom McMullen, subscription sales director at ALF, said: "It will come as no surprise that content marketing is the most popular option for increased investment in 2015. This creates both opportunities and challenges for marketers, who must look for new ways to differentiate their content in a crowded market place, as well as find innovative ways to seed it."
ALF, a database of 40,000 contacts in the advertising, marketing and media industries, used its insight into the creative industries to create a report on the state of marketing in 2015.
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