PA Manufacturers to Increase 2027 Marketing Budgets, Hire More Staff

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More than 90% of surveyed Pennsylvania manufacturers plan to increase their marketing investment “greatly” or “somewhat” in 2027, according to a report released in May by Altitude Marketing.  

The Lehigh Valley agency, which serves national and global industrial companies including Bethlehem-based Flexicon and Hanover-based Gerard Daniel Worldwide, published responses from 150 manufacturing marketing leaders across the state in its Marketing Trends Report: Pennsylvania Manufacturers. 

“Marketing budgets can be a key predictor of a company’s expected trajectory,” Altitude’s Chief Strategy Officer Adam Smartschan said. “It’s often the first line item to get cut in a downturn, while an increase signifies optimism. Our report is a strong indicator that Pennsylvania’s manufacturing sector expects to grow over the next 12 to 18 months.” 

The median respondent of the survey had a marketing department between six and 10 individuals and a marketing budget between $100,000 and $500,000 per year. More than two-thirds of those surveyed were either directors, vice presidents, or chief marketing officers.  

Pennsylvania manufacturers will create more marketing jobs in 2027 

A large portion of the increased marketing budgets over the next year will go toward expanding headcount, with 45 companies planning a “significant” increase and 102 planning a “slight” increase in department size. No responses predicted a headcount reduction.  

“AI is perceived to be a white-collar job killer, which makes this result especially notable,” Smartschan said. “The fact is, these marketing leaders still see the value in people – and right now, they’re building budgets that prioritize human talent.”  

AI is ubiquitous–and saving nearly a full workday per week 

The expected increase in employee count has not come at the expense of AI adoption; 149 of the 150 respondents use the technology at least once a week, with 52% responding that they use it daily. The top use cases include data analysis (30%), original content generation (21%), and research (20%).  

More striking is the reported business impact; 85% of respondents claim AI saves them at least five hours a week. At the top end, 11 respondents believe the technology is saving them more than 20 hours per week.  

Smartschan believes much of the perceived time savings has come through the automation of repetitive tasks, like data manipulation, market and competitive intelligence and email outreach.  

“I like to say that if you are doing a task more than once – copying and pasting lead and prospect data from one system to another, for example – it’s almost certainly a task that AI can handle,” he said. “These leaders are clearly beyond the early adoption phase and finding mature ways to take advantage of AI in their day-to-day tasks.” 

The encouraging signal, though, is that none of this has yet come at the expense of employees, Smartschan said. “While this is a small sample size, it’s easy to assume that the time savings from AI would translate into smaller staff sizes. This survey shows the opposite.” 

Outsourced marketing support is not going away 

In the next 12 months, 139 respondents will spend at least 10% of their marketing budget with an external partner, citing both “better audience reach” and “increased speed” as the top reasons for partnering with an agency.  

Marketing technology was cited as the top outsourced tactic in the next year, followed by email marketing and search/answer engine optimization. “Pennsylvania manufacturers are no longer looking for an agency like Altitude to simply ‘do more stuff’: write content, design sales brochures, buy ad space,” Smartschan said. “Our value is now measured in the results and strategy we bring, whether that’s helping them implement technology and systems that make their job more effective, or delivering them real revenue opportunities.” 

The full report can be accessed at Altitudemarketing.com.  

Altitude Marketing, based in Emmaus, specializes in marketing for industrial, life sciences, and enterprise technology companies. The 43-person agency was founded in 2004 by Andrew Stanten, a 2025 Lehigh Valley Business Journal Power 100 Honoree.