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. 

 

Now in its fifth wave, the B2B Barometer's quality and relevance is demonstrated by its longevity. The fifth wave, conducted in July and August 2011, canvassed the opinions of 137 B2B marketing professionals from major companies and the marketing services agencies that serve them.

 

Key areas covered include:

  • B2B marketers' perceptions of the economic situation and its impact on their organization
  • How B2B marketing budgets are organised
  • Attitudes and behaviour regarduing sales and marketing alignment

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

 

B2B agency performance continued upward trend in H1 2011

 

On the whole, results continue to go in the right direction for B2B marketing agencies:

  • 60% of B2B marketing agency respondents reported an increase in their revenues over the past 12 months
  • This result continues an upward trend from November 2009, when only 34% reported greater revenues
  • Similarly, 55% of agencies report a greater number of enquiries in the past 6 months
  • 38% report that the quality of enquiries has improved over the same period.

But there are indications that this upward curve may flatten out in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012

 

Agency performance remained positive, but certain measures were not as positive as the last measure in January 2011. For example the number of agencies reporting a lower number of enquiries in the last six months doubled from 13% to 27%.

 

So what are the expectations for agency performance in the second half of 2011? Broadly positive - don't expect more than 60% of agencies to be reporting greater revenues, but a fall below 50% would be a surprise.

 

Online advertising to take smaller budget share in next 12 months

 

There seems to be one certainty in this sort of marketing ‘state of the nation' study. That there will be a graph showing the inexorable rise of social media and/or digital. Certainly this report has reflected these trends over the past couple of years.

 

So it is with some trepidation that this report seems to point to a ‘dip in digital'. Over the next 12 months, B2B client-side marketers expect to spend 34% of their B2B marketing budgets on digital channels. This is a pretty large fall from January 2011, when digital channels were expected to take 41% of B2B marketing budgets.

 

To suggest spending on digital is falling is slightly misleading, however. The fall in digital channels' share of B2B budgets is almost wholly driven by a significant fall in spend on online advertising, from 11% to 6%. Indeed, spend on website development is expected to rise.

 

Where is this money likely to be re-allocated?

 

B2B client-side marketers suggest that they expect to spend more over the next 12 months on trade shows and CRM/ database management.

 

Attitudes and behaviours to sales/ marketing alignment don't match

 

In the red corner, we have attitudes to sales and marketing alignment:

  • For most client-side marketers, sales and marketing mis-alignment mean wasted resources: wasted time, wasted budget and wasted leads
  • 91% say that alignment is an important priority
  • Not only that, even more (95%) say it's a ‘realistic' priority

In the blue corner, we have the actual behaviour. 79% of B2B client-side marketers feel their sales and marketing could be better aligned.

 

Let's look all the way back to November 2009. Back then, 70% of client-side marketers agreed that sales and marketing could be better aligned. Despite the attitude that alignment is necessary and realistic, mis-alignment has - if anything - become more prevalent!

 

 

To find out more about B2B marketing budgets and key trends in the Wave 5 report,click here To read the preceding B2B Barometer reports,click here