B-to-B Marketers Up Their Online Spending

Even as the economy crumbles around them, B-to-B merchants are investing more in online marketing. GlobalSpec, a specialized vertical search, information services and e-publishing company, revealed in a recent survey that 30 percent of respondents devoted more than half of their overall 2008 marketing budgets to online initiatives, up 10 percent from 2007.

The online survey polled 468 B-to-B marketers from a wide range of industries. Here are some more findings of the report:

* on average, 37 percent of the respondents’ marketing budgets are spent online;

* 38 percent said their companies spent more on marketing in 2008 vs. 2007, while 41 percent report spending the same;

* 72 percent said either customer acquisition or lead generation was their primary marketing goal this year;

* 42 percent responded that they don’t believe the economy will have an impact on their marketing budgets; and

* 47 percent of respondents listed “too few marketing resources” as one of their top three marketing challenges this year, followed by improving marketing ROI (31 percent) and determining what online marketing programs work best (26 percent).

For more information, go to www.globalspec.com.