B2B online marketing spend 'to rise'

30th September 2008

US business-to-business (B2B) marketers intend to increase expenditure on internet marketing over the next year, a new study has suggested.

Commissioned by the American Marketing Association and conducted by the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, the research indicated that growth in spending on internet marketing will outpace that on traditional ads, marketing staff hiring and overall marketing.

Carol Krol, senior analyst at eMarketer, said that this intention to increase online spending may be due to the medium's attractive measurability when it comes to return on investment.

"They are also simply following customers. Their customers are researching and evaluating products and services online, particularly in the early phases of the purchasing cycle, so it makes sense to be where they are congregating," she added.

E-consultancy's 2008 UK Search Engine Marketing Report suggested earlier this year that most companies intend to increase spending on paid and organic search marketing.