The Executive Summary

The B2B Barometer is an ongoing research study undertaken by B2B research specialists Circle Research and supported by ABBA and the IDM. The B2B Barometer was developed to better understand current and future B2B marketing trends in today's economic climate. The benchmark survey was administered in April 2009, and it has since established itself as the definitive state of the nation study. 

 

The third survey, (June 2010), canvassed the opinions of 120 B2B marketing professionals from major companies and the marketing services agencies that serve them. The B2B marketers who took part in the research collectively control around £36 million for B2B marketing activities and as a group, the marketing services agencies turnover £575 million worth of revenue per annum.

 

Key areas covered include:

  • B2B marketers' perceptions of the economic situation and its impact on their organization
  • How B2B marketing budgets are organised
  • How social media fits into the B2B environment
  • The difficulties of demonstrating accountability from marketing spend

The full report is now available to download and read for free here, and you can read the executive summary below

 

More revenues and enquiries suggest mostly bright future for agencies

  • One half (49%) of agencies report higher revenues in the past 12 months
  • Two thirds (64%) of agencies report an increase in the quantity of enquiries in the past 12 months

Agencies are optimistic about their own future, and that of the wider economy . Revenues are rising for some, but it appears that even more will benefit in the next 12 months from the increase in enquiries seen in the past year. Two fifths (41%) of clients anticipate a greater marketing budget in the next year.

 

But such optimism shouldn't mask the reality that a sizeable minority will continue to struggle:

  • Three fifths (59%) of agencies report a decline in the quality of enquiries in the past 12 months
  • One third (30%) of agencies are still experiencing declining revenues

Social media is declining in relevance, but it is not a passing fad

The endless discussion of it is getting tiresome, businesses are concluding that it is not relevant to them, yet spending on it is increasing. ‘It' could only be social media.

 

  • 86% of client-side respondents expect their spending on social media to increase over the next 12 months
  • 70% of client-side organisations still have no social media strategy in place, an increase from 63% in Wave 2
  • 79% of client-side organisations do not measure the impact their social media activities has on their reputation, even though 64% believe it is possible

Social media is relevant to some, but not all, organisations, but only in certain contexts. Those that adopted it as a tactic are increasingly questioning its relevance to their business. 28% of respondents have a social media strategy in place, and they are the ones most likely to stick with it in the long-run. The proportion of businesses using social media marketing is likely to continue falling, but there is a floor to the decline.

Social media is not the only show in town

Respondents also made clear that discussion of social media fails to appreciate other important trends in B2B at the moment:

  • Increasing recognition of the need to maintain a two-way dialogue in the customer relationship. There is hope that email marketing will be a more effective tool in relationship marketing
  • The importance of data quality to marketing
  • Continuing cost pressures on clients' budgets, versus the need to balance quality and creativity, according to agencies, to achieve differentiation in the market place
  • Growing willingness to measure the return on digital investment\

The challenges of measuring ROMI remain a large obstacle

More integrated systems and better sales force alignment are required to make the measurement of ROMI more effective. Still only 43% of client-side respondents measure ROMI, and the metrics used tend towards calculations that are the easiest to measure, not necessarily the right ones for business. The anticipated rise in marketing spend is likely to make measurement of return more important than ever, but it is not yet clear whether this will be able to overcome such obstacles. Yet to be seriously considered as a major contributor to business success, Marketing must measure and clearly demonstrate impact to the bottom line revenue results.

 

To find out more about B2B marketing budgets, key trends and get greater insight into how businesses are changing their attitude towards the social media phenomenon, click here

To read the preceding B2B Barometer reports,click here