A recent survey from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) reported that 87 percent of marketers are looking for ways to reduce spending. This number has stayed the same since the past year, but is a slight improvement over the 93 percent reported in the survey six months prior.

Although more marketers are planning to cut departmental compensation - 56 percent in the August survey compared to 48 percent six months ago and 32 percent one year ago - fewer marketers are eliminating or delaying new projects, the survey found.

Looking ahead, the majority of marketers - 44 percent - expect their marketing budgets to remain the same, while 39 percent think their budgets will decrease and 17 percent think they will increase.

"Marketing has been dramatically altered by the current economic conditions," said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA. "Our ongoing series of recession surveys show that while marketers are consistently hopeful, the reality is that more tempered spending has become the new norm."

According to a recent study from GlobalSpec, lack of resources - specifically dollars, people and time - was found to be marketers' number one challenge in 2009.