Marketing budget allocation and marketing benefits of traditional media, online advertising, and electronic word-of-mouth

Abstract

An in-depth interview was used to examine the budget allocation and operational benefit of three major corporate marketing tools. The results indicated that, apart from e-commerce and companies with online channels, most companies allocated their marketing budget primarily to traditional media, followed by online advertising and electronic word-of-mouth. However, the allocation of such budget percentages does not result in a corresponding marketing effect. Due to the difficulty of measuring the marketing effect, influences of multiple considerations, limitation of industrial marketing inertia, and unfamiliarity with new marketing channels, the companies interviewed in this study were unable to adequately control the allocation of budget percentages. The findings may serve as a reference for companies with industrial attributes similar to the companies in this study, when planning or adjusting their marketing budgets. Key words: Traditional media, online advertisement, electronic word-of-mouth, in-depth interview, marketing budget, marketing effect.