B2Bs will double their online marketing spending between now and 2014, according to Forrester research summarized in a recent BtoBonline article. Last year, interactive marketing spending totaled $2.3 billion; it’s projected to reach $4.8 billion by 2014.
Many observers have noted that the current recession has greatly accelerated a shift that’s been underway for some time, from offline vehicles such as print advertising and tradeshows to interactive vehicles like search engine marketing and email. The study’s author, Forrester’s Michael Greene, agrees: B2B marketers “have begun to clamp down on expensive offline tactics and are instead turning to measurable, ROI-driven online channels.”
Within the interactive marketing world, Greene forecasts that…
- display advertising will be the fastest-growing category, notwithstanding a dip in 2009 which saw SEO spending overtake it;
- mobile marketing will increase from $26M to $106M; and
- social media spending (excluding internal costs, which probably dominate in this category) will grow from $11M to $54M.
All in all, a rather impressive scenario for online marketing, especially considering the present difficult times.
