Business to Business Key Findings – Jan/Feb 2012

Business to Business Statistics – Marketing Outlook for 2012

According to BtoB’s “2012 Outlook: Marketing Priorities and Plans” survey, marketers are moving more of their spending into lower-cost online and social media programs.
Overall, the study shows that nearly one-half (48.4%) will keep their budgets flat this year; 40.8% will grow them; and 10.8% will make cuts.

Some 74.0% plan to increase their online spending, while 41.4% will raise event spending, 36.5% will boost direct mail, and 20.1% will enhance their print advertising. Decreases will include 22.4% of marketers cutting their print advertising, 13.4% slashing direct mail, and 12.1% lowering their event marketing spending.

As for online spending, the top areas of growth will be websites (cited by 67.6% of marketers), email (67.5%), social media (64.3%), search (54.8%), video (50.5%) and webcasts/virtual events (45.6%).

The survey also shows that 70.3% of marketers now use social media as part of their marketing strategy. The top uses for social media are brand-building (82.6%), lead generation (51.4%), thought leadership (47.4%) and customer feedback (39.5%).

Source: BtoBonline.com

Corporate Blogging Statistics – Use Declines

A study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth shows that the use of blogging has declined for the first time among Inc. 500 companies. (Inc. 500 companies are defined as the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. magazine.)

Among the 170 Inc. 500 companies polled during late 2011, 37% have a corporate blog, down from 50% in 2010. (Some 45% had them in 2009 and 39% in 2008). The study also revealed decreases in the use of message boards, video blogging, podcasting and the MySpace social network, with increases in the use of Facebook (employed by 74% of responding companies), LinkedIn (73%), Twitter (64%) and YouTube (45%). Texting, downloadable mobile applications, and Foursquare are being utilized by 13%-15% of these companies.

Some 90% of respondents said that social media tools are important for brand awareness and company reputation, with 80% relying on these tools for delivering web traffic and 81% for lead generation.  Seventy-three percent believe social media tools are key to their customer support programs.

Source: University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth

Women Rising to Top in Europe

In the U.S., women make up over one-half of professionals and managers in the lower and middle ranks of large companies but only 14% of senior managers, 3% of chief executives and 16% of board positions. Nothing significant is happening to change those domestic statistics, but the European Union is pushing for companies to promote many more women to top jobs, and threatening mandatory quotas if change doesn’t happen.

Some EU member countries have begun self-regulating to make the change. For example, France now has laws requiring all companies to raise the proportion of female directors to 40% by the end of the decade. In Spain, public and large private companies must increase the number of women on their boards to 40% by 2015. Some large German companies have already set their own voluntary targets. Norway, which is not an EU member country, began requiring a 40% share for women on boards almost a decade ago and reached this level in 2009.

Why is this change being pushed now after years of neglect? In the past few decades women in Europe and elsewhere have been attending universities in large numbers, and in most countries they now make up a majority of new graduates. Many governments recognize these highly qualified women as an underused resource especially since study after study has shown that companies with lots of women in senior positions are more successful than those with few or none.

Source: The Economist

Bullets

• Only 3% of Americans believe that and Ivy League education makes someone a better worker.
• Sixty percent of women ages 40-59 say they are less concerned that they used to be about what others think of them, compared to 43% of women ages 20-39. Some 48% of women ages 40-59 have a positive outlook on life, compared to 36% of women 20-39.
• U.S. companies spent $56.13 per person on logo-ed promotional products in 2010.

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