Time-tested online media to see budget increases
According to a survey of business-to-business (B2B) marketers, traditional online tactics remain key to marketing success.
Just over half of B2B marketers surveyed told BtoB Magazine their budgets would go up this year, mostly by less than 15%. With a primary marketing goal of customer acquisition (69%), the greatest number of respondents expected spending increases to come from online (78%). By contrast, 44% said they would be spending more on events and 36% on direct mail.
Online, B2B marketers were most likely to report planned increases in marketing spending on their websites and email programs, followed by social media. These results differed in priority from those of a survey of general US marketers by RSW/US. Among that group, 65% planned to spend more on social media, followed by 47% on email. RSW/US did not report on increases in website spending.
More than two-thirds of B2B marketers already used social media marketing as of December 2010, where the main focus of marketing efforts was brand building. Despite customer acquisition being B2B’s top goal for the year, less than half of respondents were using social media for lead generation.
In 2010, social media, websites and email each received a median of 10% of B2Bs’ online marketing budgets. Spending levels were higher on display and video advertising.
