With Christmas just around the corner, Marketing can reveal what’s on the marketer’s wish list for 2012. Preliminary results from our State of Digital Marketing in Australia survey, which closes this Wednesday, December 14, show that Australian marketers are looking for systems to help manage content and automate parts of their time-poor roles.

The study, conducted in partnership with Econsultancy, is being carried out to understand marketing trends and issues facing the industry in Australia and the region.

Participants of the research will score themselves a free copy of the complete report (valued at $400), which will look at the use of digital channels, budgets and investment plans, measurement capabilities, return on investment, staffing, skills and resourcing.

Marketing and Econsultancy are calling on marketers to take the survey to help benchmark the health of our industry by clicking this link to the 10-minute questionnaire now.

Not surprisingly, data collected so far shows that 80% of firms expect to increase their digital marketing budget next year. Half of these plan incremental budget increases of 1-20%, but a small group (6%) plan to more than double their digital marketing budgets.

The study is relevant for client- and agency-side marketers, as well as B2B service providers who are asked to give their view on what their clients’ priorities will be for 2012.

Reassuringly, early findings show that what B2C marketers intend to focus on in 2012 matches what their B2B service providers expect them to turn their attention to. The most significant gap between these expectations and what B2C marketers will focus on is social media, which B2B respondents believe to be more wide reaching than it actually is.

If you’re an Australian marketer and haven’t already done so, take the State of Digital Marketing in Australia survey before 14 December and you will receive your free copy of the report, worth $400, in January.