While b2b and b-to-c marketers are both embracing new media platforms, there are some marked differences in their usage, goals and, perhaps most important, budgeting for new media, according to a joint survey by the Association of National Advertisers and BtoB.
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The online survey of 146 b2b, 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 b2b 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—b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b companies this year is 11.5%. "Obviously, [b2b marketers] have smaller budgets; but this shows that when b2b companies make a commitment to new media, they really make a commitment to it," Duggan said. Both b2b 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 b2b marketers reporting budget increases for new media. Only 3% of b2b 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, email 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 email 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 b2b marketers. A higher percentage (40%) of b2b marketers plan on incremental budget increases for new media, compared with 33% of b-to-c marketers. B2b marketers have also been using many new media platforms for longer periods of time than b-to-c marketers. For example, 60.3% of b2b marketers have been using email marketing for more than three years, compared with only 41.1% of b-to-c marketers. Also, 33.6% of b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b marketers. B2b 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 b2b 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 email marketing, 58.3% of b2b 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 b2b marketers. In their use of webinars, 46.0% of b2b 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 b2b marketers. "B2b 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." B2b and b-to-c marketers have also had different levels of success using various new media platforms. Fifty-four percent of b2b 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 b2b 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 b2b marketers found them to be. Significantly, 36% of b-to-c marketers found social networks to be very effective, compared with only 10% of b2b marketers, and 32% of b-to-c marketers rated viral video as very effective, compared with 23% of b2b marketers. Marketers also differed in which behaviors they valued in measuring the effectiveness of new media. Fifty percent of b2b 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 b2b marketers. B2b 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.Download the Complete Results of the Survey