An online survey of 200 CMO Council members across the world  carried out in December and early January found that 65% would increase spending on marketing in 2021, while only 10% were looking to reduce budgets.

The survey also found that 70% of respondents reported significant or growing investments in marketing technology to boost effectiveness.

When asked if they were planning to downsize or restructure their organisations, 64% of respondents said they would not be doing so compared with a quarter who were considering it.

The most important areas of marketing automation and transformation according to respondents were sourcing and using customer data insights, executing campaigns more effectively, and improving operations and performance.

Working more effectively with lines of business was highlighted in the survey as the top priority for marketers, who also highlighted lowering costs, increasing efficiency and better globalising and localising campaigns.

More than half of marketers surveyed wanted to optimise their customer journey and a third wanted better data-driven interaction and digital innovation to raise acquisition and conversion rates.

Increasing spending and automation and saving costs through efficiencies were priorities regardless of company size, region and industry, according to the survey.

Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, said: “The most relevant and compelling areas of conversation among our members right now are all about return on investment, efficiency and revenue optimisation.

“This means being more focused on digital marketing transformation, creating value from customer data, and upgrading customer engagement and experience.”