42% of B2B marketing budgets is put toward digital programs, and the biggest chunk is for developing web sites.

Business-to-business marketers spend 42% of their total marketing budgets on digital marketing, and spend the largest portion of that digital budget on developing corporate web sites, e-mail marketing and their social media efforts, according to a 2013 survey of 80 B2B marketers in the United States conducted by Omobono Ltd., a digital services agency that helps companies develop brands through web, mobile and social media channels, and the Business Marketing Association, a trade group for B2B marketing professionals.

23% of B2B digital marketing budgets go toward developing corporate web sites; 19% to e-mail marketing; and 12% to social media programs, where the most commonly used social networks are LinkedIn and Twitter. Online video, podcasts and webinar programs account for 10% of B2B digital marketing budgets, 8% goes to search engine optimization, 7% to pay-per-click advertising and 6% to display advertising. Other digital programs, such as mobile applications and affiliate marketing, each account for 5% or less of B2B budgets.

Sign Up for B@Becnews for FREEA report by Omobono and the BMA analyzing the survey calls social media, SEO and online video bargain buys because they are relatively low in cost to develop but highly effective at marketing two of B2B organizations’ top three goals: strengthening their position as industry thought leaders and raising brand awareness. It says investments in web sites and e-mail marketing are better suited at pursuing a third top goal revealed in the study, deepening customer relationships.

Another survey of marketers reveals B2B marketers, like a lot of business-to-consumer marketers, are shifting more of their ad spending to the web.  B2B product marketers in August 2013 said they intended to increase their digital ad budgets 9.5% over the next 12 months, while decreasing traditional ad spending—defined as all offline advertising spending—by 2.4%, according to The CMO Survey from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, which surveyed 410 senior-level marketers.

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