The survey found that 9 in 10 B2B companies now use digital marketing to build their brands. While digital marketing budgets and tactics like social media, video, and mobile are increasing, many companies still struggle with a lack of time and resources. The majority measure success through email click-throughs and leads, but these metrics may not fully capture brand performance online. There is a clear need for more education through case studies and best practices to help B2B marketers better understand and measure their digital campaigns.

1. B2B Market Snapshot September 2011

2. 1 - Introduction

3. Background and Methodology This survey was sent to B2B advertisers and agencies. The objective was to identify a snapshot of market trends in B2B digital marketing for 2011 and beyond. We had 158 respondents in total. The fieldwork period was May-July 2011. The survey was hosted on BrightTalk.

4. Majority of respondents were at manager level % Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

5. % Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011 Majority of responses came from advertisers

6. Wide range of vertical respondents Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

7. 2 - Trends

8. 9 in 10 use digital to build brands What business objectives do you want to achieve through your digital marketing? Strengthening brand has risen from the 8th most popular objective from our corresponding research in 2009 to the top objective for 2011 and beyond. Generating leads remains the second most popular. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

9. Over two thirds agreed their marketing techniques are progressively migrating to digital Any agree - % The migration of digital techniques has increased from 34% of respondents who agreed with this in 2009 to over two-thirds which shows the acceleration of digital on to the B2B marketing agenda in 2011 and beyond. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

10. Increased use of social media, video and mobile expected across 2011 % Plan to use for brand awareness, customer retention/service and customer acquisition % Social media usage has grown from 30% of respondents to our research in 2009 to 80% of our respondents in 2011. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

11. 3 - Budgets

12. Over half of overall marketing budgets increased in 2011 Shift in overall marketing budgets from 2010 to 2011 55% of our respondents reported increased overall budgets in 2011 from 2010. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

13. Two thirds increased digital budgets for 2011 Shift in digital marketing budgets from 2010 to 2011 Nearly two-thirds of our respondents recorded increased digital budgets for 2011 from 2010. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

14. Digital budgets increasing due to 2010 success Reasons for digital budget growth in 2011 Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011; base: those whose budgets had increased (102)

15. 4 - Effectiveness

16. Email marketing, social media and search most effective for building brand awareness There is clear growth for online video here which was not identified by respondents in our 2009 research showing the growth of video in building brand online for B2B marketers – and it is a growing medium. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

17. Email marketing and search most effective for customer acquisition In 2009, 7% of respondents used social media in their digital marketing campaigns – 3% used mobile! It is clear from these statistics that it is still not too late to be early with mobile in B2B and that there is still a clear opportunity with both. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

18. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011 Email marketing and social media most effective for customer retention Use of social media, online video and mobile are the 3 key channels that have grown in 2011 for customer retention.

19. E-mail click-thru and leads generated considered the best measure of success What metrics does your company use to measure success of digital marketing? As 9 out of 10 respondents are building brands online – it is interesting to see these are the primary metrics (CTR’s, leads) being used which won’t give B2B marketers the full picture about their brands. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

20. 5 - Challenges

21. Lack of time and resource biggest challenge When implementing digital marketing techniques, what are your biggest challenges? Time constraints and a lack of resource go hand-in-hand to give B2B marketers their biggest challenge to overcome. Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

22. Case Studies and Best Practice advice needed to help B2B marketers What would help your understanding of digital marketing techniques? Source: IAB/Brightalk August 2011

23. Summary Digital marketing budgets are growing, and 9 in 10 use digital to build brands online – yet the metrics currently being used do not give B2B marketers an accurate picture as to how their brand is performing. There is a clear need to educate the B2B market as to what metrics they should be using and how they should be using them to measure their online marketing campaigns. Whilst email continues to dominate B2B digital marketing campaigns, use of social media has grown rapidly in 2011 – both for building brand and for customer retention. Online video and mobile have emerged as key channels for 2011 and beyond for B2B marketers. Online display has yet to convince B2B marketers of its branding potential - yet our research shows no B2B advertiser is measuring brand effectiveness correctly. Education is key for the growth of the B2B industry with more case studies, best practice advice and training being identified as key areas to boost knowledge of digital marketing techniques.