Survey: B2B Marketers Expect Budget Growth within the Next 12 Months

Looking ahead to the next 12 months, new research suggests that B2B marketers are expecting budget increases.

The CMO Survey conducted by the Duke Fuqua School of Business, Deloitte, and the American Marketing Association found that B2B services marketers predict their budgets will increase 8.1 percent over the next 12 months, while B2B product marketers project a 6.9 percent leap during the same period of time.

At the moment, B2B product marketers are using their budget on the direct expenses of marketing activities (65.8 percent), social media (50 percent), and employees (51.4 percent). B2B services marketers said most of their budget goes toward the direct expenses of marketing (59.3 percent), social media (49.4 percent) and employees (50.6 percent).

Despite this budget allocation, the report discovered that marketing excellence ratings remain flat. On a 7-point scale (7 representing the most strength, 1 demonstrating the weakest), the average rating among all marketers was 4.4 as of August 2016. This is compared to 4.5 in both February 2016 and August 2015.

Highlighting the Difficulties of Social Media Marketing

Earlier this year, the February edition of The CMO Survey showed that social media was specifically a challenge for marketers. At the time, marketers said social media would account for 20.9 percent of their budgets over the next five years. However, 40 percent stated that social media’s contribution to their organization’s success has been “below average.”

“The findings show that while social, mobile and analytics spending is on the rise, they’re falling short when it comes to boosting the bottom line,” said Deloitte CMO Diana O’Brien.

Just 10 percent of marketers claimed that social media’s contribution to their company’s performance has been “above average.”