GlobalSpec is an internationally known portal used by engineers, technical and manufacturing professionals. They recently released a new study: Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010.
Of the 464 respondents, 70% hold management positions in sales or marketing. These companies had marketing budgets from 50,000 to over a million dollars.
Here are some highlights:
• 70% of companies anticipate an increase in sales compared to 2009.
• Marketing budgets are recovering after a down year in 2009, with 31% reporting an increase in their marketing budget this year.
• The top three marketing challenges in 2010 are having too few resources, not enough quality leads and a need to improve marketing ROI.
• Three of the top four sources of leads are online channels, including the company website, e-mail marketing and search engine optimization.
• 68% of companies plan to increase spending on social media in 2010. LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular social media applications currently being used.
• 47% will spend more than one-third of their marketing budget online, and the majority (51%) will invest more in online marketing in 2010 than they did in 2009.
How do you stack up with these trends?