Santa Monica, Calif.—Nearly two-thirds of b-to-b search marketers report that the competition they face has little to no impact on the size of their online marketing budgets, according to a study released Thursday by Business.com.
The survey of 201 b-to-b paid search and search engine optimization professionals found that 85% view tracking competitor search engine marketing tactics and performance to be an essential part of running a successful search marketing campaign; 69% said that they “actively monitor” competitor search engine rankings, keywords and other information, and look for changes.
However, the survey found that monitoring the competition does not affect online marketing budgets. Just 36% of respondents said that competitor activities have an important impact on their online marketing budget, while nearly one-quarter of those that actively track competitors online said competitor activities have no impact at all on their budget.
“For most b-to-b search marketers, larger budgets follow solid results rather than simply reflecting the scale of the competitive challenge,” said Ben Hanna, VP- marketing at Business.com, in a news release. “Being effective in b-to-b search marketing today means understanding the competition, making the right keyword choices and choosing the combination of general search engines and specialized business search sites that deliver the best return.”
—Matthew Schwartz
|
