The quarterly study of marketing professionals, run by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and Bloomberg, revealed that 60% of marketers have increased confidence in UK economic growth and performance in the year ahead. This is double the level of confidence shown in 2012.

This optimism is underpinned by performance – 46% of marketers reported that they exceeded the expectations of their financial performance during the last year, compared with 29% who fell short.

However, the report also revealed that while businesses are placing greater emphasis on marketing’s contribution to business strategy, many marketers are “struggling to justify their budgets with a compelling, commercially-grounded rationale.”

According to the study, 27% of marketers said they evaluate their campaigns only when time and capacity allows, and just 8% claimed their measurement was “sophisticated”. In addition, 45% said their marketing planning process was driven primarily by budgets, compared with 37% who claimed insight and analysis was the primary driver.

Thomas Brown, associate director, research and insights at CIM, said: “As businesses look to ensure their readiness for a new year, we need to break out of this cycle of short-termism and look to elevate marketing investment with a view to driving growth, performance and more commercially-grounded business metrics. Marketing plans must align with core business strategy and collaboration with colleagues will only enhance more meaningful business performance.”

More detail and results from the study can be found here.