Industrial marketers spend more on online platforms

Marketers at industrial firms spent a larger proportion of their marketing budgets online in 2008 than they did the previous year, a new report by GlobalSpec reveals.

The study shows that 30 per cent of marketers spent more than 50 per cent of their overall marketing budget this year on online marketing - up from 20 per cent last year.

In addition, three of the four top sources of leads for industrial companies are online marketing programmes.

Despite the credit crunch, some 38 per cent of marketers said they expect to spend more on marketing and divert more funds to online initiatives.

Although 42 per cent said they don’t expect the turbulent economy to have a negative impact on their marketing budgets this year, 40 per cent conceded that their marketing expenditure may be reduced if the economy gets any worse.

The survey also found that online directories, websites and in-house email mailing lists are the two most frequently used marketing channels.