Two B2B studies show digital ad budgets are on the rise across the board in the US
Marketers will boost digital ad budgets according to the Association of Business Information and Media Companies (ABM) poll and a Forrester Research project.
In the first quarter of 2013, ABM polled 74 marketers about their expectations for future B2B advertising. Separately, Forrester Research polled 56 marketers in the third quarter of 2013 on the same topic.
The results showed some deep parallels in responses to similar questions posed in the ABM research, called The Value of B-to-B, and the Forrester research, called Q3 2013 North American B2B Marketing Budget Online Survey, reported in a white paper called Focus B2B Marketing Budget Gains On Business Outcomes To Succeed In 2014. The Business Marketing Association (BMA) was a partner in both studies.
Both research projects asked marketers to estimate their future budgets. Both surveys show that ad budgets are on the rise. The later research shows a smaller forecasted rise, so the trendline is for continuing growth in marketer budgets, although perhaps at a decelerating pace.
The two studies also asked marketers about their priorities for future spending, that is, detailing areas in which they expect to increase and decrease spending. Digital ad budgets are on the rise across the board. More marketers plan to decrease their traditional print advertising than plan to increase it.
One major difference: Forrester found little support for face-to-face events (30 per cent plan to decrease spending vs 21 per cent planning an increase), while ABM found much more support for events (only nine per cent planning to spend less, with 38 per cent planning to spend more).
