U.S. marketers have an optimistic outlook for the next six months, reports the American Marketing Association (AMA). The AMA’s inaugural Marketer Confidence Survey, conducted with marketing consultancy Millward Brown Vermeer, found marketers upbeat about their companies’ prospects, customer spending and the growth of marketing budgets.

Marketers’ optimism comes in contrast to popular perceptions of an economic slowdown. The AMA’s overall Marketer Confidence Index, where 100 is neutral, scored at 121 in the survey. Sixty percent of respondents say they are in a positive investment climate, while 40 percent report increased customer spending over the past six months and 39 percent expect it to climb over the next six months. A third of those surveyed expect marketing budgets to increase.

“Though market volatility is the new normal, marketers are now more confident about leading their organizations through change,” says Marc de Swaan Arons, chief marketing officer at Millward Brown Vermeer. “This confidence is supported by new and evolving opportunities to leverage insights across marketing investments to drive ROI. At the same time, the pace of innovation is challenging marketers to align strategy and talent in a more agile way, and as we track the index over time it will be interesting to see how marketers manage this challenge.”

Russ Klein, CEO of the AMA, adds, "We know that organizational confidence is a strong predictor of performance. The results of this inaugural release, combined with other learnings, would suggest that customer-centric firms, when also displaying high levels of marketing confidence, are poised for growth."

Click here for more on the Marketer Confidence Survey’s findings.