Report: 69% of B2B Marketers to Increase Digital Advertising Spend Amidst Pandemic

As B2B marketers look to strategize amidst the pandemic, new research suggests that they will be putting more of their budget toward digital advertising and email marketing to get by.

Gartner recently released Part 2 of “The Annual CMO Spend Survey,” and statistics showed that 69% of B2B marketers intend to increase their budget for digital advertising, while 18% expect to dedicate at least the same amount as before. In addition, 67% of B2B marketers said that they will increase the amount they spend on email marketing, and 20% will at least spend the same amount as before on this tactic.

Other channels that will see an increase in investment include mobile marketing (67%), paid search (66%), website (66%) and SEO (66%).

Marketers Making Temporary-to-Permanent Shifts

The pandemic has caused marketers to shift their most-used tactics, and previous research has shown which methodologies are here to stay.

Merkle published a special COVID-19 edition of its “Customer Engagement Report,” and statistics suggested that 74% of marketers have ultimately changed their approach to customer content. About 52% have increased marketing spend, and 96% say that their new marketing and service innovations are here for the long run.

About 50% of marketers have tried new martech or features during the pandemic, while 45% have become more customer centric in their messaging. Approximately 42% have developed a new transaction fulfillment capability, while 39% have added a new marketing channel.

In general, 54% of marketers say that the importance of communicating with customers has become “significantly more important” as a result of COVID-19.