ITSMA: B2B marketing budgets are expected to grow by 4.4% in 2015

199IT original compilation

Nearly half of B2B marketers around the world expect to increase their marketing budgets this year, while only 17% will reduce their budgets. According to a survey conducted by ITSMA in February 2015, overall marketing budgets are expected to grow by 4.4%.

How do B2B marketers use these budgets? Employees are the largest expense, accounting for 42% of the marketing budget. Marketing programs and promotions account for the largest share of marketing-related expenses, accounting for 28% of the budget. Although content marketing is still emphasized, content development only accounts for 15% of the budget.

ITSMA found that 55% of marketing and promotional spending goes to offline marketing, and 45% to digital. However, a January 2015 Regalix survey found that this year, the majority of North American B2B marketers (52%) will spend half of their marketing budgets on digital, compared to just 36% in 2014.

According to a Duke University Fuqua School of Business survey in February 2015, although B2B marketing budgets are generally optimistic this year, B2B marketers' marketing budgets lag behind B2C. The survey found that this year, US B2B service and product marketers expect their marketing budgets to increase by 9%. Service marketers reported that their marketing budgets accounted for 8.6% of corporate revenue, while B2B product marketers reported a figure of less than 7.4%. Meanwhile, B2C product marketing budgets accounted for 9.1% of corporate revenue, while B2C service marketing budgets accounted for 9.3%.

ITSMA found that while B2B marketers can expect more budget, less than 8 in 10 respondents said they had received additional budget and funds, and 21% did not have such luxury.

Compiled from: eMarketer Translator: Sun Ying