Download the Complete Results of the Survey The online survey of 146 b-to-b, 107 b-to-c and 73 hybrid marketers was conducted in June by research company Guideline. The respondents included BtoB subscribers and members of the ANA's Brand Leadership Community panel. Titled "Harnessing the Power of New Media Platforms," the survey was designed to learn more about b-to-b and b-to-c marketers' experience with 15 new media platforms, including blogs, podcasts, search, social networks and user-generated content."Make no mistake about it—b-to-b marketers, in general, embrace new media platforms. They appear to be earlier adopters of new media platforms than b-to-c marketers," said Bill Duggan, exec VP at ANA.One of the most significant findings is that 31% of b-to-b marketers allocate 20% or more of their total media budgets to new media platforms, compared with only 5% of b-to-c marketers. Nearly 50% of the b-to-b respondents said they planned to allocate more than 10% of their budgets to new media. The average planned increase for new media-platform spending by b-to-b companies this year is 11.5%."Obviously, [b-to-b marketers] have smaller budgets; but this shows that when b-to-b companies make a commitment to new media, they really make a commitment to it," Duggan said.Both b-to-b and b-to-c marketers said they plan to increase their new media budgets this year, with 78% of b-to-c marketers and 66% of b-to-b marketers reporting budget increases for new media. Only 3% of b-to-b respondents said they planned to spend less on new media this year.New media platforms fall into three distinct tiers, explained Frank Dudley, VP-marketing at Guideline, who presented the survey's findings at the ANA's annual daylong B-to-B Conference last week in Chicago.The top tier includes proprietary Web sites, e-mail marketing, online ads, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and webinars. The middle tier includes blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and video on demand. The bottom tier consists of wikis, mobile, viral video, social networks and Second Life."The bulk of the budget dollars allocated to new platforms will go to the entrenched forms—the company's own Web site and e-mail marketing," Dudley said.The survey also asked marketers to indicate how they planned to fund new media budget increases.Seventy-three percent of b-to-c marketers said they planned to shift money from their traditional media budget, compared with 52% of b-to-b marketers. A higher percentage (40%) of b-to-b marketers plan on incremental budget increases for new media, compared with 33% of b-to-c marketers.B-to-b marketers have also been using many new media platforms for longer periods of time than b-to-c marketers.For example, 60.3% of b-to-b marketers have been using e-mail marketing for more than three years, compared with only 41.1% of b-to-c marketers. Also, 33.6% of b-to-b marketers have been using webinars for more than three years, compared with only 7.5% of b-to-c marketers.The survey also found that 21.2% of b-to-b marketers have been using blogs for between one and three years, compared with only 10.3% of b-to-c marketers, and 12.3% of b-to-b marketers have been using wikis for between one and three years, compared with only 5.6% of b-to-c marketers.However, more b-to-c marketers have been using other new media, including viral video, social networks and mobile marketing, longer than b-to-b marketers.For example, 17.8% of b-to-c marketers have been using viral video for between one and three years, compared with only 6.8% of b-to-b marketers; and 11.2% of b-to-c marketers have been using social networks for between one and three years, compared with 6.8% of b-to-b marketers.B-to-b and b-to-c marketers also differ when it comes to their objectives for new media.With the notable exception of the company's own Web site, demand generation is the primary objective of b-to-b marketers using new media platforms in the top tier. The middle and bottom tier platforms are viewed as more suitable for brand-building activities. In their use of e-mail marketing, 58.3% of b-to-b marketers said demand generation is their primary objective, compared with 40.9% of b-to-c marketers. Twenty-eight percent of b-to-c marketers said customer loyalty and retention is their primary objective, compared with 16.5% of b-to-b marketers.In their use of webinars, 46.0% of b-to-b marketers said demand generation is their primary objective, compared with 26.1% of b-to-c marketers. In contrast, 34.8% of b-to-c marketers said brand building is their primary objective for webinars, compared with 16.1% of b-to-b marketers."B-to-b marketers appear very bottom line-oriented," Duggan said. "They use new media platforms to create demand for their products and services. Meanwhile, b-to-c marketers are more likely to use new media platforms for brand building."B-to-b and b-to-c marketers have also had different levels of success using various new media platforms.Fifty-four percent of b-to-b marketers rated webinars as being very effective (an 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale), compared with only 27% of b-to-c marketers. Also, 21% of b-to-b marketers found podcasts to be very effective, compared with only 13% of b-to-c marketers.However, b-to-c marketers found other new media platforms to be more effective than b-to-b marketers found them to be.Significantly, 36% of b-to-c marketers found social networks to be very effective, compared with only 10% of b-to-b marketers, and 32% of b-to-c marketers rated viral video as very effective, compared with 23% of b-to-b marketers.Marketers also differed in which behaviors they valued in measuring the effectiveness of new media.Fifty percent of b-to-b marketers rated downloads of white papers and brochures as very effective in measuring new media. Meanwhile, 39% of b-to-c marketers found site visits very effective in measuring new media, compared with 26% of b-to-b marketers. B-to-b respondents said the two main barriers to the adoption of new media platforms were lack of experience and a perceived inability to prove effectiveness/ROI.
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