B2B Web Strategy Blog - eMagine

B2B Online Marketing Budgets Set to Rise Again in 2008

January 11th, 2008 Posted by: Bill Gadless

All the recent headlines seem pretty bleak: stock markets sliding, housing and financials in distress, signs of softness in the overall economy.

But despite all of that, B-to-B marketers plan to increase their marketing budgets next year, predominantly for online, events and direct, according to B2B, The Magazine for Marketing Strategists. Their “2008 Marketing Priorities and Plans” survey of 213 B-to-B marketers was conducted online during late November / early December, and is well summarized in B2BOnline’s recent posting, Outlook 2008: Marketing budgets, Online to Rise in ‘08.

Here are the key relevant findings from the study…

• 60.1% of marketers plan to increase their overall marketing budgets next year; 29.6% plan to keep budgets flat, and 10.3% plan budget decreases.
• Of those planning budget increases next year, over 36% plan a significant spending increase, in the 10-24% range.
• Online marketing will see the biggest increases, with 79.1% of marketers planning to boost their online budgets next year. This figure tops last year’s survey, when 75.6% of marketers said they’d increase their 2007 online budgets.
• The average percentage of the marketing budget spent in 2008 on online marketing will be 33.8%, a substantial leap from 2007’s 26.5%.

Why such aggressive spend plans in uncertain times? Survey respondents say their primary marketing goal for 2008 is customer acquisition (62.4%). Brand awareness (19.3%), customer retention (11.7%) and other objectives (6.6%) trailed.

Why such emphasis on online? These B2B marketers focused mainly on trackability and the ability to target information to customers and prospects. Oh, and also market responsiveness: as put by Mike O’Malley, director of external marketing at Tellabs, “This is how our customers want to get information … through the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Digital media offer us a great opportunity to do that.”

Among the online areas planned for increases next year are: website development (cited by 74.0% of marketers), e-mail (70.1%), and search engine marketing (64.3%). (And as an indicator of coming trends… 19.8% of marketers are currently using social media as part of their marketing strategy.)

Is your plan keeping pace?
This study clearly shows that acting on the headlines by planning for contraction could well set you up for competitive disadvantage. If you’re unsure of how best to power up your online marketing – website upgrade, SEO, PPC, email, lead conversion/management – you may want to check in with your Web consultancy for professional counsel. (PS: eMagine faces those same business choices, too …and we’re planning an online spending increase, too!)

Entry Filed under: B2B Web Strategy, Internet Marketing, Lead generation, Search Engine Marketing