B2B Services Marketing Budgets and Priorities are Shifting, ITSMA Study Finds

March 13, 2012 - PRLog -- ITSMA’s 2012 Services Marketing Budget Allocations and Trends study reveals surprising changes in the spending habits and priorities of B2B services marketers. To keep up with new complexities in marketing as well as the shifting demands of buyers, marketers are rebalancing their marketing budgets to focus more on thought leadership and digital marketing. The survey also shows that marketers are finding funds from other sources, such as business units and sales, to supplement their budgets.

The study, which surveyed  leading B2B companies, reveals that services marketers are updating the marketing organization and skills, focusing on developing content that helps drive business, formalizing efforts to enable sales, and learning how best to apply all the marketing data they’ve been collecting.

“The main catalyst of these changes is the rise of the B2B social buyer,” said Julie Schwartz, Senior Vice President of Research and Thought Leadership at ITSMA.

“Marketers now have to reach two distinct audiences: the social buyer, who leverages social media and online communities and consumes content voraciously, and the traditional buyer, who still relies on peers, colleagues, and provider contacts for information. Marketers need to figure out how they can afford to reach both audiences.”

ITSMA has published a report on the survey data, which gives detailed information on services marketing budgets, budget allocations, and marketing priorities from a range of companies across the technology, IT services, and consulting industries. The report can be found at http://www.itsma.com/research/services-marketing-budgets-....

The report also highlights other key findings from the study. One key trend is that although ITSMA members are projecting double-digit services revenue growth, marketers are still being asked to stretch their funds; this means they will need to shift funds from some budget categories to others.

“The data shows that marketers are finding money, for now. But in the long run, they will have to re-examine marketing spending allocation and update the marketing organization and skills so they can stay relevant to their customers and to the business,” Schwartz said.

Methodology
In December 2011 and January 2012, ITSMA used a Web-based survey to gather data from its members about services marketing budgets, services growth, and top marketing priorities.

ITSMA received 42 responses from 40 unique companies, including such companies as BT, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro, and analyzed the collected data in three ways:
-The data set as a whole
-Company type—primarily services or product and services
-Company size—less than $1 billion or more than $1 billion in annual services revenue

For more information on the study, contact Julie Schwartz at +1-781-862-8500, Ext. 112, or at jschwartz@itsma.com, or go to http://www.itsma.com/research/services-marketing-budgets-....

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ITSMA provides research, consulting, and training to the world’s leading technology, communications, and professional services providers.