B2B Barometer reveals market improvements

A Base One Integrated Marketing product story

Edited by the Marketingweek Marketplace editorial team Mar 4, 2010

The B2B Barometer, carried out by Circle Research and supported by ABBA and the IDM, has revealed improvements in the UK business-to-business (B2B) market over the last six months.

The survey of 197 B2B client-side marketers and agencies is said to show definite signs of recovery in the B2B sector.

The report reveals new trends and budget allocations, and identifies ways in which marketing funds are being apportioned to best effect.

Seventy-nine per cent of agencies polled in the survey revealed that they are expecting to see growth in their organisations in the next 12 months, while 66 per cent of client-side marketers were also confident of growth.

This shows a marked improvement from the benchmark wave of research, when just half of client-side marketers predicted any organisational growth and backs the latest GDP figures, which indicate growth.

In addition, 40 per cent of client-side marketers reported a likely increase in marketing budgets over the next 12 months.

Traditional media spend is still under pressure and many of the companies surveyed revealed that they would be spending less on print-based promotional media.

Social media makes the biggest headlines, with 92 per cent of client-side marketers and 95 per cent of agencies agreeing that it would be unwise to ignore the latest new-media developments, although 63 per cent of clients do not have a social media strategy.

Measurement was highlighted as a critical area for attention, especially for expenditure in new areas such as social media.

However, when it comes to actually measuring return on marketing investment (ROMI) some disparity exists.

Eight-six per cent of agencies believe their clients measure this return, while only 65 per cent of client-side marketers state that they actually do.

An increase in accountability has occurred since the benchmark research, when only 51 per cent of client-side marketers claimed to actually measure ROMI.

The most common metrics used to measure ROMI are lead generation, conversion rates and web analytics.

As ever, B2B marketers face the challenge of attributing new clients or business leads to specific marketing spend.