B2B Marketers Ready to Spend Online

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

Growth will be low, but at least it will be growth.

B2B marketers in the US plan to increase spending on Internet marketing more than traditional marketing, marketing hires or overall marketing through July 2009, according to a study by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business commissioned by the American Marketing Association.

B2B services marketers surveyed said they would bump up their Internet marketing spending by nearly 18%, compared with less than 6% for traditional marketing. B2B product marketers planned to be even more conservative, increasing Internet marketing by less than 13% and traditional marketing by less than 2%.

Any increase will be welcome.

Total B2B ad spending was down 2.9% in 2007, according to an analysis of TNS Media Intelligence data by BtoB Magazine. The B2B Internet ad spending category, which did not include paid search or online video ads, declined by 0.4% in 2007.

“B2B marketers are increasing their online spending, particularly for customer acquisition, because they can measure it and determine quickly whether it is working,” said Carol Krol, senior analyst at eMarketer. “In an age of heightened accountability, the ability to measure is critical.

“They are also simply following customers," Ms. Krol said. "Their customers are researching and evaluating products and services online, particularly in the early phases of the purchasing cycle, so it makes sense to be where they are congregating.”

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