The perception of marketing is improving, marketing roles are expanding, and marketing budgets, staff, and agency spend are increasing. Investments in content development, marketing technology, and sales enablement are keeping pace with changing buyer behavior. However as percentage of revenue, marketing budgets are declining. Senior executives still do not see marketing contributing enough to strategy development, revenue growth, and shareholder value. They are asking marketers to stretch their budgets and do more with less. Based on the results of the study, ITSMA outlines five priorities for marketers in 2014: Measure and communicate metrics that matter Become a data and technology frontrunner Improve relevance and personalization Enable thought leadership selling Develop a proactive and adaptive marketing culture Overview Services Marketing Budgets and Benchmarks: 2014 Budget Allocations and Trends, a PowerPoint-style report, delivers a detailed look at the state of the services marketing profession as it exists in early 2014. It provides data on services marketing budgets, budget allocations, and marketing priorities from a range of companies across the technology and consulting industries. Topics covered in the report include: Services marketing budget size and growth rates Services growth rates Services marketing budget allocations Services marketing staff growth rates Services marketing staff allocations Marketing mix budget allocations Digital marketing budget allocations Marketing operations and automation Marketing priorities Study Methodology During December 2013 through January 2014, ITSMA used a Web-based survey to gather data from its members about services marketing budgets, services growth, and top marketing priorities. ITSMA received 45 responses from 44 unique companies and analyzed the collected data five ways: The data set as a whole Company type—primarily services or product and services Company size—less than $1 billion or $1 billion or more in annual services revenue Growth Rate—less than 10% or 10% or higher Geographic location—North America, Europe, or Asia