Online Marketing Budgets Within the Industrial Sector Continue to Grow in 2007

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 14 Jun 2007 21:37

Troy, NY - 6/13/07 - Companies within the industrial sector are spending more on marketing and allocating a greater portion of their budget to online marketing, according to the 2007 Industrial Marketing Trends Survey.

This second annual survey of marketing and sales executives and managers in the industrial sector was conducted by GlobalSpec (www.globalspec.com), the leading specialized search engine, information services and e-publishing company for the manufacturing, technical, industrial and engineering communities.

Sixty-one percent of respondents stated that online marketing would command a greater portion of their marketing budget in 2007 than it did in 2006. In addition, 37% will spend at least one third of their marketing budget online.

These results indicate the industrial sector is rapidly allocating their budget to online marketing, closing the gap between where they are advertising and where customers and prospects are searching for products and suppliers. Previous GlobalSpec surveys reported that 91% of engineers use the Internet to find components and suppliers and 45% spend more than 6 hours/week online for work-related purposes. Companies are shifting more of their marketing resources to capture these engineering, technical and industrial professionals and to meet their top reported marketing goals of customer acquisition and lead generation.

Other findings from the 2007 GlobalSpec Industrial Marketing Trends Survey include:

- 74% of respondents indicated that either customer acquisition or lead generation is their primary marketing goal in 2007

- Respondents most often selected customer acquisition, budget & resources or new market development as the biggest marketing challenge facing their company in 2007, indicating that finding new customers in both new and familiar markets while controlling budget expenditures is a key focus

- Fewer than 10% of respondents expected to increase spending on blogs and podcasts in 2007, showing that social media has yet to make an impact in the industrial sector

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