I recently attended a webinar where the key speaker, Roy Young, President of MarketingProfs, shared key findings from the study on trends and spending strategies for B-to-B marketers. Highlights include:
- Reduced budgets
- Marketers are sharpening their focus
- New media is on the rise
- Emphasis is particularly strong for search marketing, webinars, emails and company web sites
- Digital and traditional tactics are being woven into an integrated marketing program
The implications are a trend toward the adoption of digital tactics, which started before the economic crisis, but have been accelerated by B-to-B marketers having to do more with less. Marketers have found that buyers want to be in control. The seller’s success depends on engagement and trust.
The study represented a broad range of B-to-B clients in both small, medium and large categories. While traditional tactics still remained the dominant player in 2007 and 2008, 2009 budget tactics now were including more of the social media mix.
To read the entire study, B-to-B marketing in 2009: Trends in Strategies and Spending