Commentary

B2B Marketing Budgets To Go Up In 2008 In Online, Events and Direct

B2B Marketing Budgets To Go Up In 2008 In Online, Events and Direct

According to BtoB's "2008 Marketing Priorities and Plans" survey, 60.1% of marketers plan to increase their overall marketing budgets next year predominantly in online, events and direct, despite the softness in the overall economy. 29.6% plan to keep budgets flat, and 10.3% plan budget decreases.

Last year, in the BtoB 2007 survey, 62.6% of respondents said they planned to increase their marketing budgets in 2007; 29.4% said budgets would be flat, and 8.0% said they planned to decrease their marketing budgets.

In 2008 the primary marketing goal is customer acquisition, cited by 62.4% of respondents, followed by:

  • Brand awareness (19.3%)
  • Customer retention (11.7%)
  • Other objectives (6.6%)

Of those planning budget increases next year:

  • 27.8% plan a 5% to 9% increase in spending
  • 24.6% plan a 10% to 14% increase
  • 12.7% plan a 20% to 24% increase
  • 10.3% plan an increase of less than 5%

The biggest budget increases will be seen in online marketing, with 79.1% of marketers planning to boost their online budgets next year, up from last year, when 75.6% of marketers said they planned to increase their online budgets in 2007.

BtoB's survey found that the average percentage of the marketing budget spent next year on online marketing will be 33.8%, up from 26.5% in 2007. Among the online areas that will see increases next year are:

  • Web site development (cited by 74.0% of marketers)
  • E-mail (70.1%)
  • Search engine marketing (64.3%)
  • Video (39.5%)
  • Webcasting (39.1%)
  • Banners (36.4%)
  • Sponsorships (29.6%)
  • Social media (26.2%)

Of the 19.8% of marketers currently using social media applications:

  • 53.8% use them for thought leadership
  • 40.4% for customer feedback
  • 30.8% for market research
  • 28.8% for advertising
  • 26.9% as a sales channel

(Respondents could select more than one response)

Event marketing will see a spending boost in 2008 with 49.5% of marketers planning budget increases in this area, as will direct mail with 49.0% of respondents planning to increase their direct budgets in 2008.

To learn more about the study and read quotes from marketers, please visit btobonline here.

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