Forrester. The business intelligence company conducted an online survey of 864 B2B marketing executives. Among the results is the discovery that across various industries, gaps in marketing investment growth have narrowed from levels reported in 2011:
- High-tech services firms still lead the industry pack in 2012, but with a much more modest growth plan of 9%, compared with the 17% reported in 2011.
- Manufacturing firms are second with a 7% increase as they invest in digital channels. Thats up 3 percentage points from 4% in 2011.
- Pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech budgets are showing a sharp change of direction, shifting from a 3% cut in budgets in 2011, to a 2% increase in 2012. .
. Among B2B marketers in all industries:
- 27% expect to increase budgets between 10% and 19%.
- 20% are expecting increases from 5% to 9%.
- 18% are expecting increases from 1% to 4%.
- 16% expect to boost budgets more than 20%.
The remaining 19% of B2B marketers expect to decrease marketing budgets this year.
The full report, titled B2B Marketers Must Focus on Partnership and Experimentation as 2012 Budgets Rise, is available at Forrester. The report discusses trends in where budgets are growing, helps senior marketers benchmark their budget allocation against that of their industry peers, and identifies the key drivers of marketing budget allocation decisions.
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