Almost half of UK marketers in the IT sector believe their company's spending will increase in the next year, according to a Chartered Institute of Marketing poll.

The online marketing picture is more mixed, with opinion divided almost equally between those expecting cuts and those planning to raise spend.

Just under a third (31 per cent) of marketers are looking to spend between 1 and 5 per cent more on online and digital marketing, and 16 per cent predicted their spend would rise between 6 and 10 per cent.

Nearly half of those surveyed said Web 2.0 was relevant to their business, although 21 per cent saw no role for it.

David Thorp, director of research and information at the institutue, said: “Despite the end of the ‘nice’ decade, technology marketers remain remarkably upbeat about the prospects for their own organisations.

"This may be because they are confident in their own abilities to help their organisations exploit the opportunities an economic downturn brings, particularly in the technology sector.”